


Lethobenthos (It's Dangerous To Go Alone, Take Us)

by Penkindisbestspecibus



Category: Overlord - Maruyama Kugane & Related Fandoms
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Comedy, Multi, Psychological Horror, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2018-09-17 16:10:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 42,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9332834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penkindisbestspecibus/pseuds/Penkindisbestspecibus
Summary: Forty One Supreme Beings came together and forged a name in fear and blood, carved out a corner of the world and called it home, created servants and guardians. At the end of an era, only Seven are there to see it go.





	1. Do Not Go Gently

**Author's Note:**

> Lethobenthos  
>  _n_. the habit of forgetting how important someone is to you until you see them again in person, making you wish your day would begin with a “previously on” recap of your life’s various plot arcs, and end with “to be continued…” after those will-they-won’t-they cliffhanger episodes that air just before the show goes back into months of repeats.
> 
> This story is mostly inspired by [Regaining What is Lost](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11561995/1/Regaining-What-is-Lost), by Weisser Ritter. A wonderfully written story that appears to be, rather sadly, abandoned. Having all 41 Supreme Beings slowly return over the course of a story is a bit ambitious though. Just having Seven together feels unwieldy from a writing perspective.
> 
> This is my self indulgent bullshit, but really, isn't all fanfiction just self indulgence?
> 
> A small note: Ancient One's name in this story is written using the romaji spelling (that is, Enshento Wan). Mostly because it just felt weird calling someone Ancient One. I was tempted to write a scene where they discuss their 'real' names and whether to use them, but I have no real plans to do so later (given that Momonga has no qualms going by Momonga/Ainz instead of Satoru Suzuki).
> 
> The 'Original Characters' tag is mostly meant to apply to the other six members of Ainz Ooal Gown given that we know next to nothing about any of them except some scattered details, conversations Momonga remembered.

In the year 2138 A.D., the genre of DMMO-RPGs - that was, Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game - had flourished into a commonplace sight, and at the forefront was, or perhaps it was better to say ‘had been’, Yggdrasil. Themed after Norse mythology and named after the mythical World Tree, Yggdrasil sparked a renaissance of sorts within massively multiplayer games as a whole with it’s unparalleled ability for customisation and personalisation from the base race and class mechanics up to aesthetic designs, magic and even guild’s.

With a total level cap of one hundred, and a class level cap of fifteen, it took a minimum of seven classes to reach max level. With over two thousand possible classes when you added up the normal and high-rank classes, the chances of stumbling across someone with an identical build to your own was virtually impossible without even factoring in the potential to have an even greater variety of classes than just seven.

But the level of freedom offered to players did not just stop at their mechanics, it extended to their visuals. Requiring tools sold separately, it was possible to alter the appearances of weapons, armor, buildings, characters - virtually everything could be redesigned to a player’s specifications given they had the money to buy the tools and the skill to use them.

And the final impressive achievement of Yggdrasil was the sheer size of the world. Nine homeworlds themed after the mythical realms of Norse Mythology were available to players, consisting of Asgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim.

These features - the vast world, innumerable classes, and complete creative control over visuals combined to create a game that was a titanic success.

But for all things that begin, they must also end.

Over a life of twelve years, Yggdrasil’s success began to wane, and falter. New technological advances, new ideas, new creative forms. These things were inevitable, and it stood to reason that over time, even with updates by developers, the titan of DMMO-RPG’s, Yggdrasil, would succumb and make way for newer games. It was just the way things were.

For that reason, on this day, at midnight, Yggdrasil would go offline. For the most part, Yggdrasil was a relic of gaming past. An inevitable occurrence as the fast moving wheels of the technology world advanced to newer heights. That it lasted twelve years was testament to it’s pioneering nature, but now there was little in the way of fanfare as preparations were made to lay the titan to rest.

Alone in their mourning were those few who still played, and the developers who watched it grow.

It was to this backdrop that six people met up for what might be the last time.

An ornate, ostentatious really, long table resided in an equally ostentatiously decorated room, surrounded on all sides by a total of forty one chairs. Whilst a grand total of thirty five of those chairs lay bare and empty, what six were occupied seemed to be occupied by things that could only be described as monstrous.

Seated at the grandest chair at the head of the table was a being garbed in exquisite silken robes of a deep black colour, embroidered at the edges with gold and violet, and around its neck was a lavish collar. Above this collar however, was no human head - a skull, devoid of skin and flesh, with a dark red glow inside empty eye sockets and something resembling a sinister halo glimmering behind it. This was a being of untold evil, of terrifying necromantic power - an Overlord, the most powerful form a skeletal mage could take, greater than even an Elder Lich.

To his left, were two individuals, each more and less monstrous than he in their own ways. A bubbling, amorphous shape of an eldritch black ooze, with hollow indentations that might have been representative of eyes near the top. This was an Elder Black Ooze, the pinnacle of the Slime species and possessed of incredibly powerful acidic capabilities.

Just a bit further down from the Elder Ooze was an individual that seemed almost human, but anyone who looked would know they were not a true human at a glance - given the fact that their head was resting on the table instead of being attached to their neck. Acrid black smoke seemed to drift up from the stump of their neck, wafting into the air and dispersing shortly after like a flickering candle. Some would mistake it for a Dullahan, a headless rider that haunted nightmarish tales that is said to reap those who are due to die. This was no mere Dullahan though. Like both the Overlord and Elder Ooze, this was an individual of the Dullahan race that had reached the pinnacle of power amongst them - a rare being known as a Headless Horror.

On the Overlord’s right, the three beings there were no less monstrous and terrifying to behold in their own way.

To his immediate right was a human-shaped young man, but his inhumanity was plainly written for all to see. Six glowing wings of light neatly folded up against his back, the occasional blinking eye or grinning mouth forming and dissolving amongst the light, and a silver halo inscribed with runes spun lazily above his head. His form seemed otherwise human, until one examined his features just a bit closer. What looked like a cherubic, young boyish face seemed to shift and shiver. The pupils of his eyes split and reformed, and as he ran a long slender tongue over his perfectly shaped teeth, they shifted into sharp fangs and back before settling into a wide, unsettling grin. Just a bit too wide, with just a bit too much teeth to be human.

Further down a few chairs presented a more clear monster. Whilst some would look and see a werewolf, those familiar to Yggdrasil’s lore would soon realise that the truth was worse than just a werewolf. A werewolf was a demihuman by nature, a being that still retained it’s human roots but had become monstrous. Amongst werewolves there were those that had grown powerful enough to exert control over the curse of lycanthropy, and through that control, they could make a choice - those who chose humanity became a more human-like creature, more like an elf than an orc. The flipside to this choice were those who chose to be beasts, and this was a prime example of such a specimen. At over seven feet tall, and almost hulking over the table, spikes of bone jutted out along his back and shoulders, and his slavering, drooling visage would be enough to strike terror into any foolish human who crossed paths with him.

Lastly but not leastly, there was a figure of even greater stature at nearly fifteen feet high and considerably bulkier. The figure’s form was less monstrous and almost regal or noble in it’s posture. Covered in thick, hard scales, and with hefty clawed hands and a frond of spikes that resembled hair, he was a particularly inhuman Dragonoid. A descendant of the Dragon race, his blood had proved strong, and he had manifested more draconic traits than many others - from the girthy tail that lazily swished behind him, to the carefully folded up leathery clawed wings at his back. Known as a Dragonblooded, he was far enough from humanity that he could be considered more dragon than man, but perhaps not too far if the fact that he still wore clothes as any indication, albeit not a lot. A pair of thick leather chaps with matching gloves, and an even thicker leather apron were the only things he wore, all stained with soot and burn marks.

This gathering of monsters might have seemed out of place in a video game, but this was Yggdrasil, where you were not just limited to the options of human races. These weren’t random monsters or NPC’s - these were Players.

“Ah, welcome, Herohero-sama. It’s been a very long time - I’m glad to see you again.” The ‘Overlord’ spoke, it’s voice almost incongruous with it’s appearance - that of an adult male, full of liveliness and vigor. Although he spoke, his face or expression did not change or move - a limitation of the technology of the time.

“It has been a long time hasn’t it? It’s good to see you as well, Momonga-sama.” The Ooze ‘turned’ it’s ‘head’, gazing at the others seated at the table. Like the Overlord, it spoke with the voice belonging to a male adult, but he lacked the liveliness and vigor inherent in Momonga’s. “Ah, I’m not the only one who answered then? Hello everyone," The Ooze burbled.

The Dullahan shifted in it's seat, turning it’s head with it’s hands manually to face the Ooze to better address him. “Salutations Herohero-dono! You’ll forgive me if I’m surprised to see you though. After your absence of two years, isn’t it normal for me to lose my head over it?” To the Headless Horror’s credit, his voice remained completely serious, if a little dramatic, even if he added a laughing emoticon at the end of it to make sure his joke got across.

“You haven’t changed at all Brandish-san.” A quiet voice belonging to the Dragonblooded seemed only more incongruous given his gargantuan build. “Listening to you, it’s just like old times.” This was followed be a sad emoticon, reminding the gathered individuals of the reason they were here.

Up until ‘Brandish’ spoke again. “Come now, Amanomahitotsu-dono! Just because we’ll be parting ways for now, it’s no reason to lose your head!”

The werewolf snorted, and like a gunshot had gone off to signal a race, the others, excepting Brandish, all broke down into fits of laughter.

“Please, Beast King Mekongawa-dono, be serious. This is a sombre event.” Still maintaining that serious tone, the Headless Horror made a frowning emoticon at the other players who only laughed harder.

“Haa, I haven’t laughed like that in a long time.” The Angel was the last to finish laughing, turning his soulless, piercing gaze at the Undead player. “Thanks for that, Brandish-kun.”

“Please! Your praise is too much for a humble servant of Evil such as myself, Enshento Wan-dono!”

They settled into a companionable silence for a minute, before Momonga broke it. “So, Herohero-sama, how has the new job been? It’s been two years, hasn’t it?”

The Elder Ooze put out a sigh emoticon, and made a motion that might have been a nod. “Haa, it has, hasn’t it? I’ve really lost track of time lately because I’ve been doing nightly overtime shifts everyday lately.”

The Werewolf tilted it’s head. “Eh, Herohero, ain’t that pretty dangerous? You see a doctor yet?” The werewolf, Beast King Mekongawa, was the last of the six to speak at this juncture, with a tone that was much more casual and light-hearted than the others.

“Not yet. I’m on the verge of it. It’s enough to make me want to run away, but I have to earn money to live, you know?” What followed was a good few minutes of Herohero divulging all of his complaints and irritations about his working life, his voice full of gloomy reality - stories about impudent subordinates, plans that were completely overhauled with little warning or time to adapt, criticism for not meeting quotas, days pulling all-nighters to cope with the massive amount of work, and the way he was destroying his body through pharmaceuticals to cope, and the abnormal weight increase that came from his ruined biorhythm. Although the others occasionally interjected with related facts or questions, the conversation soon became a one-sided deluge of Herohero’s dissatisfaction with his lot in life.

Discussing the issues of a real life in a virtual reality may have been taboo for others, but for the six individuals gathered here, it was not so. The guild - a team formed, organized and operated by a group of player characters - that they belonged to, Ainz Ooal Gown, had two simple rules for joining. Firstly, you had to be a member of a heteromorphic race - that is, a monstrous one. Secondly, you had to be a functioning member of a society.

And so, as all forty one members of Ainz Ooal Gown had jobs and lives outside of the virtual reality, complaints about work as a conversational topic was a natural occurrence.

But when the deluge came to an end, the Elder Ooze let out a sigh. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have complained so much to all of you. I don’t get much chance to really vent like this anymore.” The Ooze wiggled it’s tip as though it were bowing - it was hard to say.

Momonga was quick to wave him off. “Ah, it’s fine Herohero-sama. I asked you to come here after all, even though you were exhausted with life.”

The others nodded in a synchronised chorus of agreement.

“Our wonderful Overlord is correct, Herohero-dono! After all, this Ainz Ooal Gown of ours was originally a place for us to rest our heads! It is only natural for you to unburden yourself in such a place!”

This earned a faint laugh from the Ooze, a little more vigorous than before, if still very much listless and exhausted. “Thank you very much, everyone. I’m glad that I logged in and got to meet up again.”

“It’s very touching of you to say such things, Herohero-san.”

“… but I’m afraid it’s about time…” The Ooze’s tentacle waved through the air as if it was touching something - he was operating his console. Immediately, the air around the six got more sombre.

“Ah. You’re right. It’s gotten very late.” It was hard to disguise the disappointment in Momonga’s tone.

“I’m very sorry, everyone.” Some of the others sighed softly, concealing the emotions that had risen within them.

“I see. It truly is a shame, Herohero-san. The good times… they never last.”

“I really want to be with everyone until the end, but I’m just exhausted.”

“Herohero-dono, please, you must be worn to the bone. It was very kind of you to stay, but don’t lose your head over us. You should get as much rest as you can.”

“Again, I am truly sorry…” The Ooze cast it’s gaze to the rest of the guild, in reminiscence. “Momon-no, Guildmaster, what will you do?”

If he had eyes, the Overlord might have blinked. Even then, such an expression would not have been represented in the game. “Ah, I intend to stay online until I’m disconnected when the servers are brought down. Everyone else here has also agreed to stay behind until then… who knows? Someone else might show up as well. It’d be sad if they arrived to an empty hall.”

“Is that so… Frankly, I’m surprised this place still exists.” At this moment, Momonga was truly thankful for the inability to show facial expressions. His grimace would’ve been plain to see to any who cared to look otherwise. It was hard for him to accept such words, as he had desperately maintained this guild that he and his friends had created together. The sheer dedication he had shown to this monument of their bonds was immense, and it was only natural that indescribable sentiments overwhelm him when hearing such words spoken by one of those very friends he had maintained this place to remember.

Fortunately, those very same sentiments were dispelled by Herohero’s next words. “As guildmaster, you kept this place going so that if we ever returned, we’d come back to it, didn’t you? Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for your dedication.” Some of others made cheering emoticons, and Mekongawa gave him a thumbs up.

“We all created this place together. It’s the duty of the guildmaster to maintain the guild so that it’s members can always return.”

“Truly, it is thanks to Momonga-san’s tireless work that we were able to enjoy this game to it’s fullest potential.”

“Indeed. Before the end comes, we should thank you sincerely for your work.” The others nodded in agreement, and as one, stood up and bowed.

“Thank you, Momonga-san/sama/dono/kun!” The unexpected outpouring of gratitude made the Overlord fumble for words.

“Ah… thank you for your kind words, everyone.” In this moment, it felt like all the hard work, all the vast hours poured into Yggdrasil… it was worth it.

“Aah, I’m sorry, but I’m really, really sleepy now…” The inevitable truth seemed to hang around without leaving, but Momonga couldn’t bring himself to ask Herohero to stay no matter how much he wanted to.

“It’s more than understandable, Herohero-kun. It was great to see you again,” Enshento Wan said, bowing his head slightly. The others chorused their agreement, bidding the Elder Ooze farewell as he logged out. Sombre silence fell upon them once again, as the reminder that soon they’d all be forcefully removed if they didn’t leave themselves. Although none of them wanted to say it out loud, they had all begun to wonder if it would be better to just log off now as well and go to sleep. Who else would arrive? Wasn’t it fortunate enough that six had come to pay respects to the memory of Ainz Ooal Gown?

Mekongawa coughed lightly, making a frown emote as he prepared to speak before a ping interrupted him.

“Eh? Wow! There’s more people than I thought… Hey everyone! It’s been a while!” It was almost serendipity that as one left, another two returned. Just as monstrous as everyone present, one of the newest arrivals was a tall humanoid with the features of a bird. Large feathered wings curled carefully to his back, and a gilded helmet covered his beaked face. Taloned hands found their place to rest on the tabletop, as he craned his head back and forth to look at the motley gathering, long brown hair swishing with the movement - a powerful creature known as a Winged Lord.

Next to him was a bubbling mass of strange pink flesh-like ooze, a disconcerting sight to be sure. Despite this, when it spoke, it did so with the cheerful voice of a youthful girl. “Hello everyone!”

The arrival of the newcomers and their friendly, casual greetings threw everyone off. Although they had said they were waiting to see if anyone else would arrive, all of them had already lost hope of such a thing occuring.

Always quick on his feet, Mekongawa was the first to respond. “’It’s been a while’? That’s all you can say? It’s been at least a year, Perv-oroncino, read the mood!”

‘Pervoroncino’ made an indignant noise, making an annoyed emote as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Speak for yourself! We don’t meet for a year, and you go straight to calling me ‘Perv’!”

Amanomahitotsu just bowed his head towards the two of them, ignoring Peroroncino and Mekongawa as they began to argue. “Thank you for coming, Chagama-san,” He murmured, and the Ooze just made a happy emoticon in reponse.

The sombre mood shattered with the force a star going supernova as Peroroncino and Mekongawa began playfully fighting with each other, an air of nostalgia overtaking the previous silence and drawing more than a few bouts of amused laughter from the others. Once they calmed down, they began reminiscing and discussing all sorts of memories and events that they had experienced together - from particularly memorable Player Kills, to dungeons they had conquered, to just ordinary anecdotes about guild life. Inevitably, such a discussion turned towards the many achievements of Ainz Ooal Gown, from their humble beginnings to the construction and design of Nazarick itself, and perhaps more importantly, the guild weapon.

A guild weapon was a creation of immense power and effort, and in many ways symbolized the entirety of Ainz Ooal Gown, not just symbolically but mechanically as well. It’s creation had taken endless hours of manpower, of farming for materials and debating it’s appearance. Some of the guild members had gone so far as to even strain their real lives to contribute, taking paid leave or neglecting other things to do their bit to make the staff a truly potent weapon. It had been that dedication and fervor that had seen Ainz Ooal Gown rise up to be ranked one of the strongest guilds in the server.

“Say, Momon, what d’ya say you take the Staff of the wall and actually wield it?”

“Ehhhh? I-I couldn’t Mekongawa-san!”

The Werewolf just waved him off. “Told ya to drop the honorifics, Momon, we’re friends. If anythin’, I should be the one showing you the respect, Mister Guildmaster. It’d be a waste, don’tcha think, though? We spent all that time and effort for the thing and it just sat on the wall like that. Don’tcha want to see what it’s like to wield, just once?” Momonga scratched the side of his skull, glancing over at the others as if asking them for help. They all seemed to be contemplating Mekongawa’s words, and eventually Amanomahitotsu nodded.

“Mekongawa-san is correct in his statements. It truly would be a waste if the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown was not at least held in the hands of the one who it was created for.”

‘ _A-Amano-san too?_ ’ Momonga thought helplessly.

“I too, must concur, Momonga-dono! The glory of a weapon that we made to surpass all others… the fruits of our labour, left rotting on the vine? Unthinkable! If such a thing were to occur, I fear that heads would have to roll!”

“That’s three outta three. What say you, Peroro, Enshento Wan, Chagama?” Mekongawa cast his gaze to the remaining two members as the Angel drummed it’s fingers on the table.

“We never let it out because we were worried it would be vulnerable… realistically speaking, the odds of someone actually getting past the 8th Floor had always been pretty slim.” The Angel made a laughing emoticon, “A part of me thinks it would be beyond ironic, that if we were to take the Staff down in these final moments, that something would happen. But realistically, I don’t think that’s possible - it would take an incredible force to clear the floors, fight the Pleiades, and then defeat us seven in time. Indulge yourself, Momonga-kun - or, at the least, indulge us.”

The Aarakocra nodded his head. “Enshento Wan-senpai is pretty correct in his reasoning. Really, if someone managed to clear all floors and defeat the final guardians before facing us, I don’t think we could stop them from taking the Staff," He said, with a small laughing emoticon.

“We sure did spend a lot of time on it didn’t we?” The Ooze said cheerfully, it’s dissonant voice as cheerful as ever, “You deserve to hold it at least once, Momonga-niichan!”

“Then it’s settled!” Mekongawa declared, turning his always-grinning face to Momonga. Momonga let out a sigh as Mekongawa made a grinning emoticon at him, rising up out of his chair.

“Well… if I’m going to bear the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, I should do it whilst looking the part. This equipment just isn’t good enough to match.” In a brief moment, he switched out the various parts of his equipment through the console, holding up a ring-laden, skeletal hand as if admiring it. Nine rings adorned his fleshless fingers, each imbued with powerful magics and abilities. His necklace, gauntlet, boots, cloak and circlet as well - all of them were of the highest tier of equipment, the Divine class. Each and every piece alone was a masterpiece of incredible value.

A brilliant gown hung from the shoulderpieces, and a rippling dark aura rose up from his feet. Although the aura seemed turbulent and sinister, it was not a skill or magic effect. It was simply a visual data effect he’d embedded into it for a more impressive appearance, and touching it was completely harmless. Numerous icons popped up into his HUD, informing him that his abilities had increased due to the powerful equipment. “There. Much better.” Satisfied that he was properly geared, he reached over to take the staff down from it’s place on the wall.

The moment he had taken it off it’s mounting, a flood of notifications informed him that he had once again improved his statistics by a great deal. Modeled after the Caduceus, the staff was seemingly made up of seven entwined servants, and each squirming snake held a jewel of a different colour. Each jewel was embedded with several powerful magics, and the staff itself was a powerful weapon if he ever chose to use it to strike someone but perhaps more dangerous to any foe was it’s ability to automatically retaliate. As he held it, a vortex of dark red aura spilled out around it, occasionally forming a screaming human face in agony that soon melted away - another relatively harmless visual effect. This powerful symbol of the guild Ainz Ooal Gown gave it’s bearer supreme authority in all guild matters - bypassing any restrictions placed or coded into the structure of the guild.

“Ooh. Man, that is some sweet effects. Hows it feel, Guildmaster-sama?” The honorific became a tool for teasing, but Momonga knew that Mekongawa didn’t mean anything cruel by it. It was just in his nature to do things like that.

“It’s… impressive. I almost regret not being able to test it’s abilities in a fight. I feel like, with this in my hand, there is no one-on-one battle I couldn’t win.” The others nodded with his words.

“You certainly look the part, Momonga-kun,” Enshento Wan said, tilting his head a little as he admired the way the robes flowed with every movement. “You do great work, Amano-san.” Amanomahitotsu, the premier crafter of Ainz Ooal Gown, lowered his head silently at the praise. Were the technology of YGGDRASIL capable of it, he would very likely be blushing. “Aaah. We don’t have much time left do we? Should we wait here to see if anyone else arrives? I feel like it’d be nice to see more of Nazarick one last time.”

Mekongawa nodded along, making a serious emoticon. “As usual, you have good ideas ojii-san,” He said, ignoring Enshento Wan’s spluttering. It was pretty amusing to listen to someone make such indignant noises with a face that didn’t change from it’s lazy smile.

“Isn’t it still possible for someone to arrive? Peroro-san and Chagama-san came quite late. It was nice, arriving to see Momon-san and Brandish-san. If someone else were to arrive, I’d like them to see something like that as well.” Amano’s quiet voice carried itself surprisingly well, but that might simply be because whenever he spoke, everyone else fell silent out of habit just to hear what the usually silent blacksmith had to say.

The Headless Horror nodded - or more accurately, he moved his head up and down with his hands in a motion that resembled nodding. “Amano-dono is very considerate! I think, in such matters, it should be the will of our dear Momonga-dono!” And just like that, all eyes were on him. If skeletons were capable of it, Momonga would probably be sweating.

“U-um…” He trailed, glancing at each of their expectant faces. _‘S-so much pressure…_ ’ “Well, I’m not really sure anyone would bother coming so late now. We only have… ten minutes or so. Even so… I guess it’d be fine if we just head out to the Throne Room. If someone arrives, we won’t be far.” The others chorus their agreement, and Momonga lets out a silent sigh.

“After you, Momonga-dono!” One by one, they filed out of the Round Table room, following their Guildmaster as he led them along the corridors of the Royal Suite. They passed by a blonde-haired woman dressed in an elegant maid’s outfit - she immediately stepped to the side as they came, bowing towards them respectfully. Momonga paused to wave at her, and as he did so, the others followed suit with gestures of their own. Mekongawa gave her a jaunty wave with a grin, Enshento Wan and Amano both gave her a single nod of acknowledgement, and Brandish thumped his fist against his chest in a salute and thanked her for her hard work in an exuberant tone. Peroroncino… Peroroncino bowed slightly so he could stare right at her chest, to the (invisible) eye rolls of the others.

“Really Pervoroncino?” Mekongawa drawled, as they headed along the hallway, past the NPC.

The Aarakocra just nodded seriously. “Of course. Whitebrim put a lot of detail and hard work into the maids. It’s only natural that I, as a red-blooded man, do my best to appreciate his hard work!”

“Just ignore him,” Bukubukuchagama said, shoving him along with a glob of ooze as she waved a tendril at the maid, “Whitebrim didn’t spend all that effort and detail on her breasts, idiot. It was in the dresses.” A sense of nostalgia returned to them, each of them remembering the chief creator of the Maids in various memories of their own.

Soon, they arrived in a wide lobby area where a troupe of NPC servants where waiting for them. Six beautiful maids, lovingly created and designed by Whitebrim as well, waited in a line and at the head of the formation was a white-haired man in an elegant suit, already bowing to the seven members of Ainz Ooal Gown. “Ah. Sebas Tian and the Pleiades,” Enshento Wan murmured. For them, who possessed Rings of Ainz Ooal Gown capable of allowing them to teleport anywhere within the confines of the Great Tomb at will, it was actually quite rare to see the squadron of battle maids and the chief battle butler that led them.

Mekongawa broke formation to lean forward, examining Sebastian’s face close up. “Man. I kinda feel bad for ‘em, ya know?” He said, making a sad emoticon, “All this time, spent waitin’ in the lobby for an attack that never came.” He spun around, hands clapped together. “Let’s bring ‘em with us!” If it were possible, Momonga was pretty sure Mekongawa would be making puppy dog eyes at him.

“Eh? Well… well I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” Momonga said weakly, coughing into a hand. “Right. ‘Follow me’!” He enunciated the command clearly and loudly to ensure it was understood, and the gathering of seven NPC’s all nodded at once. They looked somewhat out of place next to the very obviously monstrous looking players, but as Momonga led the procession, they fell into line alongside the six players, forming two neat (if a little lopsided) columns.

They passed through another room, decorated with seventy two hollow alcoves, sixty seven of which contained statues depicting devils and demons, whilst a large, four coloured crystal shimmered and shined above. This room, the Legemton (or the Lesser Key of Solomon), was one of the final defenses before the Pleiades and Sebastian. The crystal, the statues, all of them were monsters programmed to attack intruders with a combined firepower enough to destroy two full parties of level 100 players. “It’s something of a pity that Luci★Fer never got around to finishing the Legemton. A full array of seventy two would’ve been an impressive sight,” Peroroncino said, glancing around at the various statues as they passed them.

“Yeah, but he kept complainin’ ‘bout how annoyin’ it was to grind fer everythin’.” There was a few scattered chuckles as they came to the great door at the end of the room. The carvings were intensely detailed, depicting a goddess on the left and a devil on the right, a dramatic relief that carried with it the weight of a final battle. But then, that was the point. As a Guild viewed as ‘Evil’ by many players, it only made sense to them to wait for any invaders in the end chambers like majestic final bosses. Momonga hesitated briefly before reaching out to touch the door. As a testament to it’s majesty and detail, it swung open automatically, if slowly for an added touch of drama.

The ambience changed immediately. Where before there had been an air of solemnity and nostalgia, that atmosphere only intensified incredibly. Here, in the Throne Room, the deepest and most important place of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Ainz Ooal Gown had fully intended to face down any opponent who had managed to reach this far. The scale of the room was enormous, with a ceiling so high you had to crane your head all the way just to look at it, opulent chandeliers of glittering crystals that hung from rafters, and forty one gilded banners bearing the emblems designed to represent a member of the Guild. At the pinnacle of the room, atop the stairs, was a throne of immense proportions. The Throne of Kings, a World Class Item given to the Guild as a reward for completing the Tomb of Nazarick in a single go. All seven of the players fell silent in awe of the magnitude of the Throne Room, a sight many of them had forgotten.

“Wow… we did some really incredible things, didn’t we?” Momonga murmured, earning a small chorus of agreement. “Ah… It’s Albedo.” Standing next to the throne room was the NPC designated as the Overseer of the Floor Guardians. A beautiful woman, with long flowing dark hair, a beatific smile and a pure white dress - she almost looked like a bride, were it not for her curling horns and black wings at her waist.

“She was… Tabula-san’s, correct?” Amano said quietly, lumbering out of the formation to inspect her as the others began to spread out a bit to appreciate the Throne Room. “Ah… Momon-san, did she always have this?” The Overlord turned his skeletal head at Amano’s question, blinking in mild surprise. “My memory is fuzzy, but I don’t believe she had this.” In her hands was a jet black wand ending in a large orb - a World Class Item known as Ginnungagap.

“… No,” He admitted quietly, “Tabula-san must’ve given it to her without asking any of us.”

“Aah, what’s the issue? If Ainz Ooal Gown was still together, it’d be a real pickle, but at the end like this, it ain’t really gonna hurt, is it?”

Amano nodded, still sending a frowning emoticon. “True enough, Mekongawa-san. I can’t help but feel a little frustrated… but I suppose I have little right to care what happens to things I left behind.”

“Ah… don’t be like that Amano-san!” Momonga said, waving his hands a little as the Elder Dragonblooded turned to face him, “I spent so much time and effort caring for Ainz Ooal Gown specifically so that if everyone came back, it would be just as they left it. It’s because I thought you would care what happened to it that I continued on.”

Amano made a sheepish emoticon, bowing towards his guildmaster. “Ah… I didn’t consider Momon-san’s feelings. Forgive me for my inconsiderate thoughts.”

Momonga gave the command for the NPC’s to standby, and after a brief bit of hesitation, to kneel, as he ascended the stairs to take his place on the Throne of Kings. The other five players all gathered around him, gazing out across the Throne Room with a sombre sense of finality.

“How long until shutdown?” Peroroncino murmured.

“Five minutes. Give or take half a minute,” was Brandish’s quiet response. “It was fun. Really fun.” 23:54.

“… Yeah. Fuck, I missed this. I’m gonna miss it. Missing it right now.” 23:55.

“Language, Mekongawa-kun… but you are right. If they release YGGDRASIL 2, let’s definitely meet there again.” 23:56.

“Ah… Thank you again Momon-san, for making this last reunion possible.” 23:57. Momonga closed his eyes.

“Farewell, minna-san,” He murmured, unsure if they’d even hear him. Any minute they’d be disconnected.

“Farewell, Momonga-kun, Amano-kun, Mekongawa-kun, Brandish-kun, Peroro-kun, Chagama-chan,” Enshento Wan said, sadly, regretfully. 23:58

“Goodbye… Momon-san, Mekon-san, Brandish-san, Pero-san, Enshento-san, Chagama-san.” Amano-san’s quiet voice seemed even quieter and softer now.

“See ya next time, guys.” Never one for long winded words, Mekongawa sounded casual and laid back even now. 23:59

“It was great seeing everyone,” Peroroncino murmured, somewhere to Momonga’s right.

“Mmmhmm,” His sister echoed. Then silence reigned as they waited for the disconnect, each ruminating and preparing themselves for what came next.

Finally, Brandish spoke. “… Goodbye?” His usual, exuberant voice had been replaced with something closer to listless, the perpetually in-character roleplayer briefly breaking character to quietly venture those words.

“… Are we still here?” Bukubukuchagama muttered, and Momonga opened his eyes, glancing left and right. They were still present. That was odd. Was there a bug in the system? Then surely there would’ve been an announcement by a GM. He attempted to bring up the chat channels to check, but with an increasing sense of panic he realised he couldn’t access any of the systems. Forced System Access, Call GM, Log Out, System Settings - none of them. It was though he was completely cut out of the system. In the corner of his vision, he could see Mekongawa attempting the same thing, an expression of increasing worry and frustration spreading across his bestial face. ‘ _Wait… expression?!_ ’ As if that thought triggered something within him, his panic ebbed away like sand in a tide.

“What the hell?! I can’t log out!” Mekongawa shouted, pawing at the air desperately.

“Ah… Mekongawa-san…” He snapped his head towards Momonga, who only pointed at him, murmuring “Your face…”

“Is this really the time Momon? Can anyone reach a GM?” He called out, glancing at the others.

Enshento Wan just calmly reached up and pinched him on the cheek. “Huh,” He mumbled, ignoring Mekongawa’s protest.

The self proclaimed Beast King growled, face twisting in annoyance as he reached over and began pulling at Enshento Wan’s cheeks. “Don’t go around pinchin’ people’s faces, ojiisan! See how ya like it!”

The Empyrean Angel, one of the most powerful Magic Casters in Ainz Ooal Gown, a meticulous planner and tactician, easily one of the most dignified people in the Guild, reacted by flailing his arms (and wings) and whining childishly.

“Ow! Ow ow ow ow, Mekongawa-kun stop! Look at what you’re doing to my face! Look at my face!”

Everyone turned at that to stare at the cherubic visage of Enshento Wan, his cheeks pinched and stretched by Mekongawa’s clawed hands, tears welling up in his eyes as he did his best to pout despite the position he was in. It was like a collective light bulb went off above all of them.

“… Oh.”


	2. Keep Calm and Try To Adapt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now aware of what situation they're in, the Seven attempt to cope.
> 
> Some manage better than others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When writing and designing the characters that aren't Momonga and in what elements weren't already canon, I aimed to create a spread of 'types' of MMORPG players. Peroroncino for example, is noted to be a serious minmax Power Gamer (just look at Shalltear, his creation) and Amano's a crafter/profession focused character (someone I can really relate to because frankly if I played Yggdrasil I'd do the same thing).
> 
> Parts of that characterisation are quite obvious here. Brandish's 'type' is more than obvious.

The light bulb that had gone off promptly shattered from overload. Always quick on his feet, Mekongawa was the first to react. “HAAAAAAAAAAAA?! Yer face! It’s expressing! It’s real! I could mush it around! What the hell?!” It was odd seeing the bestial muzzle, usually taut in a slavering grin, react with shock and worry. Momonga had gotten used to seeing it’s usual expression that watching it make new faces was strange. Enshento Wan was rubbing his cheeks petulantly, and seemed to be flexing his wings almost experimentally. Amanomahitotsu and Peroroncino were doing something similar, although Peroroncino seemed much more panicked than the perpetually calm and introspective Amano-san, and Brandish was oddly quiet, holding his severed head in his hands and almost… staring into it. No, wait, Momonga was reading that position wrong. The head was staring at the black, acrid smoke that drifted lazily out of his stump of a neck. Bukubukuchagama seemed to be living up to her namesake of Bubbling Teapot as she flailed wildly but silently.

“What the hell is going on?! I can’t log out! No GMs! No Systems! Are we stuck? Is it a glitch? If this is some weird ‘Yggdrasil 2’ surprise, it’s a shitty fucking one!” Mekongawa was still rambling and ranting, claws clutching at his head. Somehow, rather than feeling the urge to yell and panic like Mekongawa, something in Momonga felt calm. As if lampshading this, Mekongawa spun around, pointing a claw at the four of them, ignoring Peroroncino and Bukubukuchagama. “HOW THE HELL ARE YA’LL SO CALM?!”

“A good question,” Enshento Wan said, sounding much calmer and more authoritative now, “But let’s put that on the backburner. Mekongawa-kun, bring it down. Breathe. Chagama-chan, are you okay?” As one of the tacticians of Ainz Ooal Gown, Enshento Wan was used to making calls and decisions in stressful situations - something he had apparently picked up from his job as an EMT. It wasn’t that surprising that Enshento Wan was so calm then now as well. From the stories he used to tell, he was probably used to much more stressful situations than this. Nobody’s life was even on the line. Maybe.

“Ah… I… I think I am?” Bukubukuchagama’s voice was much different now - it still held that girlish, youthful quality, but it almost sounded like she was speaking underwater. “This is… really weird…” She mumbled, waving multiple tendrils around. Enshento Wan nodded, turning this way and that to get a better look at the area.

“Let me test something. Everyone, try to remain calm for now. Sebas!” He called out. The kneeling Butler rose up from his position with a fluid motion.

“Yes milord?” The Seven collectively all had the same mental reaction. _'He spoke!'_

“Tell me your name, your creator, and your purpose,” Enshento Wan barked out, hovering a foot or so off the ground as his wings shimmered and twisted. Sebas Tian just nodded.

“My name is Sebas Tian, created by the supreme being known as Touch Me-sama to serve as steward, chief butler and final defender of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.” He had a smooth, elegant voice that suited his appearance. Enshento Wan nodded, although Momonga wasn’t entirely sure what the purpose of the questions was.

“A few more questions, if you don’t mind Sebas-kun. Please name the Floor Guardian of the Fifth Floor, then tell me what is five times five minus twelve.”

“The Floor Guardian of the Fifth Floor is Cocytus, and five times five minus twelve is thirteen,” Sebas answered smoothly and Enshento Wan nodded.

“That will be all,” He said, turning back to the other five. “Well. That settles it. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

“What? What does that even mean?!” Peroroncino squawked, ruffling his feathers.

“Literary reference, Peroro-kun, don’t mind it. What’s important is that we’re clearly not in Yggdrasil anymore - or, at the least, we’re not in the system of Yggdrasil. NPC’s can only respond as far as their scripting allows.” He waves off-handedly towards the assembled maids, butler and overseer. “Sebas Tian isn’t scripted to be able to respond to all of those questions. The first three, maybe, second two, much less likely. Conclusion? Sebas Tian is no longer restricted to the rules of Yggdrasil - not that we are either. After all, I can do this now.” He hooked his fingers in his cheeks and pulled, making a comical face before letting go. Momonga was pretty sure he should be panicking right now, but every time he felt his heart rate accelerate it just settled back down like an odd cycle. Peroroncino however, had no such qualms.

“So what? We’re trapped in a video game?! What kind of lame anime plot is this?!” Enshento Wan flicked him in the forehead as his wings shimmered.

“I said to calm down. Breathe easy Peroro-kun, I’m not done. We’ve established we’re no longer playing by all of Yggdrasil’s rules, so we can safely assume that something has happened. We need to figure out what. Brainstorming, go.” He gave everyone a serious look that showed he meant business, and the other six sharpened up immediately.

“Yggdrasil 2?” Chagama offered.

“Legal implications of forcing players into this situation without prior consent aside, it’s somewhat plausible. Easy way to test, too. We just have to do something that would be impossible in a game.” Enshento Wan’s words were logical and clear but nobody quite had an idea on what would constitute something impossible in a game… until Peroroncino calmly walked over to where Albedo was standing and groped her chest.

“Pe-Peroroncino-sama!” She exclaimed, shocked. Her expression melted into one of coy playfulness rather quickly though. “I didn’t realise you could be so forward, Peroroncino-sama~” She cooed.

The Aarakocra nodded seriously, and turned around to return to the others, leaving Albedo pouting a little in disappointment. “Well, that’s out,” was all he said.

Bukubukuchagama had a much more rational reaction and smacked him on the back of the head with a thick tentacle. “Little brother! What the hell was that?!” She cried, but Peroroncino just let out an indignant squawk.

“Ow! Hey, sis, careful, that hurts!”

The Slime bubbled, seemingly examining her tendril.

Enshento Wan just nodded seriously. “Methodology… aside,” He said, giving Peroroncino an amused glance, “I think that proves we’re not in Yggdrasil 2. Or 1. Or any kind of game. No company would risk letting players do something like that in a DMMORPG. So that’s not it. Other suggestions?”

Mekongawa was still staring at Albedo, but he shook his head and returned his attention to the group. “Yeesh. Didn’t realise Tabula made her like that. Shouldn’t be too surprised, guy was real big on that kind of… what’s it called? ‘Gap Moe’?”

The Angel just flicked him in the forehead. “ _Focus_. The second most obvious answer is that we’re in a dream or a hallucination or something, but there’s no point in trying to worry about that. There’s nothing we can do that proves we aren’t in a dream.”

The Werewolf rubbed his forehead petulantly, letting out a pouty huff.

“Well, isn’t the fact that we’re in a ridiculous situation proof enough that we’re dreaming?” Peroroncino offered, still rubbing the back of his head.

“Ah… what Enshento-san means is, if we are in a dream or not… then either way, there’s nothing we can do? Regarding whether we’re dreaming or not. The dreaming one will wake up, or they won’t. Um, assuming it’s just one of us, dreaming that is. We just can’t affect it, so why bother?”

Mekongawa blinked. “Frankly, the fact that you said so much in one go is just more proof we’re dreamin’, Amano.”

The Dragonblooded lowered his head and… well. He was literally steaming now. Momonga just had to guess that was how Dragonblooded blushed.

“Is the third most obvious answer that Yggdrasil has become our reality?” Brandish piped up, but Peroroncino shook his head.

“I’d argue that’s the most obvious answer, Brandish.”

“Ah, what if it’s a glitch or an error?” Momonga said.

“Unlikely, Momonga-kun,” Enshento Wan muttered, flexing his fingers. “This would be one hell of a glitch to just completely overhaul so much of Yggdrasil. And then prevent us from logging out. Or accessing the systems at all. It’s more likely that someone has intentionally interfered with the systems, but even that’s still very much not likely.” They all fell silent again, glancing at each other nervously. Well, Momonga thought they were nervous. Amano-san had always been hard to read, and the reptilian face of the Dragonblooded was no less difficult to read. Mekongawa and Peroroncino were much more obviously nervous and worried, but Brandish seemed calm and Enshento Wan’s face was carefully blank. Reading Bukubukuchagama’s mass of slime… well, that was just beyond anyone wasn’t it? “So… any more suggestions?” Nobody had anything else to venture in lieu of an explanation. “Then it seems like our options are this is a dream, this is our new reality, or this is some sort of Dive glitch or hack. We can’t meaningfully test any of them, so let’s just go forward with the idea that this is our new reality. If it turns out to be a dream? Well, then we wake up and nothings lost. If this is a Dive glitch or hack, then all we can do is wait anyway.

"Now that we know how we’re dealing with this, we need to know what we’re dealing with,” He continued, wings curling around him. They shimmered and glimmered, and the eyes and mouths that seemed to appear and disappear were no longer grinning. “We don’t know what’s outside Nazarick. Hell, we don’t even know what’s on the other floors. We can scout, but it could be dangerous - we have no idea what we could run into or whether we could fight it.” Momonga found himself nodding along. That meant… three problems. Firstly, what could they do in a fight; secondly, what was in Nazarick (if they were still in Nazarick), and lastly, what was outside of Nazarick.

“Scouting should be easy enough,” Momonga said quietly, glancing at the still kneeling forms of the Pleiades, “We can send the maids or Sebas. For whether we can fight, the easiest solution is to test if we still have access to magic and skills.”

“If we’re sendin’ the Pleiades to scout, then I think Delta and Sebas should go,” Mekongawa suggested, sounding calmer and more grounded now that he had a problem to focus on. “Delta’s stealth and Sebas’s speed and versatility should let ‘em escape anythin’ without engagin’. The issue of whether we can fight or not… well, we can solve that pretty easy, can’t we? Just see if ya can cast a spell.”

“Actually, we already know that we can fight,” Peroroncino spoke up, “Sis clubbed me on the back of the head earlier with her giant tentacles. Ow!” His words had only earned him a second ‘clubbing’.

“Testing whether we can cast spells is easy enough, but we’re not sure what we’re up against,” Enshento Wan elaborated, wings unfurling again. “That Chagama-chan could hurt you despite both of you belonging to the same guild is just another notch in the way this world is different from Yggdrasil. It’s entirely possible that what’s outside could easily defeat us. We need to be on our guard until further notice. But in any case, this is a solid plan for now - are we in agreement?” The Six other remaining members of Ainz Ooal Gown all chorused ‘Aye!’.

Momonga, as the one who still bore the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, turned to give the order. They bowed respectfully, and vanished in a blur of motion, leaving the ‘Supreme Beings’ to contemplate further. They settled into an uncomfortable silence, still feeling tense and worried about their situation until Brandish broke the stalemate. “Momonga-dono… I think you might’ve felt it as well. I’m not sure about the rest of you guys, but, when I was getting worried… no, when I knew was feeling worried, I just felt a wave of calm come over me,” He muttered, holding his own head up to stare at himself. “I’m not sure if it’s worth losing my head over, but it still felt worrying.”

“Y-you too? I thought it was kind of weird. The average person would be panicking in this situation, but every time I thought about it, I just went back to being calm.” The pair of Undead shared something akin to a worried glance (Momonga was excepted given that he had no facial features to really make a worried expression with), but both of them could already feel the sense of calm bubbling up. “Ah… just like that…” He murmured, looking at his skeletal hand as though it held all the answers.

“I had expected something like that,” Enshento Wan said, ‘sitting’ on the air. “Well, not quite like that. But ever since we’ve arrived in this situation, we all feel different, don’t we?” He didn’t wait for anyone to agree before continuing on, “It’s part of the reason I believe this is certainly not a dream. It’s much too vivid and imaginative. If I were dreaming, I wouldn’t feel this strange in my body. It’s not the kind of thing a dream tends to remember would be different. I’m not sure how it feels for you guys, but being in the body of an Angel… it’s weird.” His wings dissolved into shards of light that began to circle around him for emphasis.

Peroroncino tapped his beak with a talon like he’d just discovered it. “… I was too busy panicking,” He admitted, and just like that everyone seemed to take a moment to really take in their new bodies now that they weren’t consumed with panic and worry.

Momonga didn’t have a lot to examine, being a skeleton. He thought it was more than a little strange that he could speak and breath and function given that he had no organs or anything inside of him except for bones, but then, what exactly was Enshento Wan? How did Angels function? Did they have organs? Brandish might, being a Headless Horror, but that still had questions of it’s own.

Mekongawa had a hand on his chest and seemed oddly interested by it. Then he walked over to where Enshento Wan was floating, and put a different hand on his chest.

The Angel just gave him a blank questioning stare, wings folding up neatly against his back.

“Huh,” was all the Werewolf said.

“Huh what, Mekongawa-kun?”

“’Huh, you don’t have a heartbeat but I do’.”

The Angel blinked, and then he mirrored the positions of the Werewolf’s hands with his own. “… Huh.”

“How do I look?” The six glanced over to where Bukubukuchagama had been standing, blinking in surprise to discover that she’d assumed the form of someone distinctly more human. Not entirely human, as her skin still had a translucent sheen, and her hair still resembled a single solid mass more than it did a grouping of individual fibers, but it was a distinctly human-like appearance. “It’s still really weird,” She admitted, face moving with the motions, but even as she stood there, she seemed to slowly be growing more and more humanoid, “I never really used the ‘Transform’ skills… well, except to become a better shield.”

Brandish beamed at her, head held under one arm as his free hand shot out to give her a thumbs up. “Ah, you have become a true beauty, Bukubukuchagama-dono! To see such a beautiful woman, I wouldn’t be surprised if I fell head over heels!” Momonga really appreciated Brandish in moments like these; whether he did it intentionally or not, he was always good for making a situation feel light-hearted.

“That reminds me. I’ve got something similar, don’t I?” Mekongawa muttered, focusing on something. Before their eyes, he began to shrink just a little, fur and bestial features receding, to a relative degree. When faced with the choice to become a ‘Human’ or a ‘Beast’, having chosen the latter it was only natural that even when assuming a more human form, he would indelibly be marked by his nature. In this case, anyone just looking at him wouldn’t mistake him for a human. Minor details were present such as his sharp teeth and almost claw-like fingernails, perhaps a touch too much body hair, but what was more than obvious were the fluffy ears in place of where a human’s normal ears would be. He twisted around, looking over himself with a contemplative look. “You know, I forgot I looked like this,” He said, running his tongue over his teeth.

“It’s because we never had a reason to be anything but Monsters. Ainz Ooal Gown was a guild built on that fact after all,” Peroroncino said, hovering a few feet off the floor as well now, wings beating slowly. “I could get used to being able to fly though.”

Momonga felt a little bit jealous of everyone else, who seemingly had fun things to realise about themselves. What did he have to cope with now? Being a skeleton. No flesh, no organs. He could still feel things at least, but it felt dulled in a way. Still, despite a vague sense of envy, somehow it felt ‘right’. Looking at everyone, he had to wonder if they felt the same way about their new forms. “Ah, what should we do once Sebas and Delta report back in?” Momonga asked, turning to the others.

Enshento Wan shattered his wings, rearranging them from their usual ‘feathered’ appearance into something akin to dragonfly’s. “Well, that depends on what they report back with. I suppose if there were an internal issue, Sebas and Delta would’ve returned,” He observed, changing his wings again, this time something closer to a butterfly’s. “So we should be able to work off the assumption that internally speaking, Nazarick is working as intended. In which case… we should probably host a meeting with major NPCs. Where do you think the best place for that is?”

“Ah… the first floors are a graveyard, aren’t they?” Bukubukuchagama said, sounding completely human now. Her hair, her skin, they were perfect replicas now, giving her the tall, slender form of a beautiful dark-haired woman. The model of a Yamato Nadeshiko, the ideal woman.

“Mmm. Fourth Floor was the Cavern Lake, Fifth Floor was the Glacier. What about the Sixth Floor, Jungle?”

Amano brightened slightly. “Ah… the Jungle…” He murmured, tilting his head up, “It had a lovely sky.”

“Then it’s settled!” Enshento Wan declared, clapping his hands together. “Let’s go to the Jungle! 「 **Portal** 」!” His wings flared out behind him, shattering into shards of light that circled around and formed a point of light that slowly expanded out into a hexagram. As it expanded, the inside of it was very clearly a portal of some kind, leading into a completely different area.

“Ah… was such a spell necessary, Enshento-san?” Momonga said, admiring the visual effects of the spell. Casting a teleportation spell like that wouldn’t have had nearly as dramatic a sequence back in Yggdrasil.

“Nope!” said the Angel, cheerfully, “But it’s cool, isn’t it? At least it confirms we have access to our magic. Given that Chagama-chan and Mekongawa-kun could both transform, we can also assume our skills are also available.”

Momonga shook his head ruefully, turning to face Albedo and the remaining Pleiades. “Albedo-san,” He began respectfully, mentally wondering who should be invited. Important NPCs… well, Area Guardians were probably not important enough for the most part. “Please have all the Floor Guardians, with the exception of Gargantua and Victim, assembled on the Sixth Floor for a meeting within an hour.”

 

* * *

 

At the other end of the portal, they found themselves deposited on the soft, sandy ground of an arena, surrounded by several layers of an auditorium. The numerous rows of the ‘audience’ were populated with Golems, lifeless constructs designed to give off the feel of imposing judgement. Here in this arena inside Nazarick, intruders played the part of ‘Gladiators’ and the Golems would watch them be destroyed like a soulless, uncaring audience of Evil. Or at least, that was the idea. There was also a VIP Lounge where any present members of Ainz Ooal Gown could cheerfully sit down to watch hapless players test their mettle against the vicious monsters that would be released as part of the scripted fights (and sometimes interfere). Many ambitious groups had found themselves thwarted here, and there was a dramatic sense of enjoyment when a group of confident players realised they were nothing but sport. Well, the Seven of them weren’t here to be sport. They were here to check on the situation. Already though, Amano seemed mesmerised by the false sky above them, a look of transcendent adoration on his face.

“Ah,” Momonga said, tilting his head back to see what he saw, “That’s right. Amano-san was responsible for the sky. It’s much more impressive in reality, isn’t it?”

The Dragonblooded just made a soft noise of agreement. A Graphic Designer in life, he had a passion for artistry and visuals that had led him to focus entirely on crafting classes and abilities, ignoring combat in favour of designing.

This place, the Sixth Floor was managed by a pair of twins. Having arrived here, surely they would be..

“Hey there!” Oh. There they are. From atop the VIP Lounges, a six story building, a small figure hurtled toward the ground. Without use of magic, only pure physical skill, they landed deftly on the ground, striking a pose with a ‘V’ for victory sign made with their fingers. A girlish child-like figure, with dark skin and golden hair, she was the Dark Elf Beastmaster Aura Bella Fiora, one half of a pair with her twin brother, created by none other than Bukubukuchagama.

“Aura!” Chagama said brightly, striding forward. Like this, it must be like a mother with her children, Momonga thought. To see their creations live… it must fill them with joy. He thought about his main creation, before dispelling that thought. The only sense he’d get from that would be embarrassment.

“Ah! Bukubukuchagama-sama!” The Beastmaster straightened, bowing deeply immediately, before turning around slightly to shout toward the top of the building she had just jumped off of. “Oi! Mare! Get down here and pay your respects!”

Chagama just tittered lightly at the display, giving Peroroncino a sly look.

The Dark Elf bowed again almost immediately. “A-apologies Bukubukuchagama-sama! He’s just afraid to jump down. If you don’t come down soon, I’ll kick you off!”

Mekongawa laughed, an upbeat sound.

Surprisingly, Amano stepped past Aura, pausing only to ruffle her hair in passing before reaching just past where she landed. “Mare-kun,” He called out, his characteristically soft voice carrying despite the almost incredible distance between them, “It’s okay if you’re afraid. But we’re here. If you’re worried, then I can catch you, okay? So please come down. We’d like to see you, after so long.”

There was a pause, and then Momonga could only just make out the shape of the other half of the Guardians falling from the top.

The diminutive elf was easily caught by the much taller and bulkier Amano, who set him down on the ground gently. Momonga might have imagined it, but it almost seemed like Mare was reluctant to leave Amano’s protective hold. Somehow, the imagery reminded him of a parent and child even more.

Both Aura and Mare (although the latter needed some prodding from his sister) lined up to bow respectfully towards the Seven Supreme Beings. “Welcome to our Sixth Floor!”

“You could learn a thing or two from Mare-chan, little brother,” Chagama teased, smiling beatifically at her brother’s indignant squawk.

Mare for his part just turned beet red.

“Stand up for yourself some more, Mare!” Peroroncino retorted, “Just because you’re the younger brother, doesn’t mean you have to do everything she says!” The two siblings started bickering then, giving conflicting ‘advice’ to Mare and Aura and repeatedly contradicting each other.

Momonga chuckled lightly. “My, siblings sure are lively,” He murmured, watching them with an air of amusement.

“Mmm,” Enshento Wan agreed, “I feel bad for Mare-kun though. Poor boy’s caught in the middle.”

“I suppose we should save him then. He looks like he’s about to faint.” Momonga stepped forward, rapping the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown against the ground to get their attention. “Peroroncino-san! Bukubukuchagama-san! Don’t forget why we’re here.”

The siblings sheepishly apologised, but they shared a look that promised it wasn’t over.

“Ah, Momonga-sama, may we ask why you are here?” Aura ventured, a bright hopeful expression on her face.

“Of course, Aura. There will be a meeting of the Floor Guardians here within the hour.”

“A meeting? What for?” Momonga wasn’t actually sure what to say to that, but thankfully Peroroncino stepped in.

“We’re making an announcement of sorts. Stuff about the future of Ainz Ooal Gown and Nazarick,” He said casually. Aura’s ears drooped, and her bright demeanour dampened visibly. Peroroncino glanced at the others as if asking ‘What’d I say?’, feeling more than a little like he'd accidentally kicked a puppy.

“… You’re not leaving again are you?” There was such hope and fear mixed in her quiet voice that it would’ve taken a stone hearted true monster not to be moved. “We were waiting so long for you to return, and we always knew you would but…” Although he’d never experienced it, Momonga was struck by the parent and child imagery for the third time - it was almost like a young child asking a hard working father not to go back to work and spend time with his family. Momonga could only think one thing when he looked at the stricken faces of his companions.

‘ _C-critical hit!_ ’ Although Momonga was just as moved as they were, he couldn’t help but feel just a teeny bit vindicated by Aura’s words. For he, the one who had remained when all others had gone, seeing the others so struck with regret and sadness at having left, he couldn’t help but feel some sense of vindication. Enshento Wan let out a wistful sigh, his wings shattering and reforming into two large feathered wings.

“No, we’re not leaving. You won’t have to worry about that.” He reached out to ruffle her hair, the second person to do so now. “We’re apologising.”

That caught Momonga off guard - apologising?

But the others just nodded sadly and wistfully. “Enshento Wan-dono is correct,” Brandish said solemnly, tilting his head down in his hands. “We fickle hearted creators got caught up in our own whims and desires and left without a care in the world, selfishly ignoring the fact that you were all losing your heads over our absence.”

Bukubukuchagama reached out, her arms stretching a little as she pulled Mare and Aura in for a hug, ignoring their shocked reactions. “Not just to you, but to Momonga as well. Working tirelessly to keep Nazarick alive whilst we were gone.” She gave him an apologetic look, and it was all Momonga could do to just cough in his hand.

It really made all those times he questioned what he was doing, still working to keep the Guild alive when he was the last one present worth it in the end, even if only six of his treasured friends had returned. Six was enough, he thought.

“Not to break the mood or anythin’, but we should probably save the ‘We’re sorry’ speech for when everyone’s here.” Mekongawa called out, beginning a series of warm up stretches. “But while we’re here, seein’ as this is an arena… why not have an exhibition match?”

“Oh? What kind of exhibition were you thinking of, Mekongawa-san?” Momonga said, stroking his jawbone with a skeletal finger whilst the others shared a few glances of their own. An Exhibition Match… Mekongawa probably intended on coming to better grips with his form. Knowing that he had spells meant Momonga could rest somewhat easy, but amongst the Seven, only Enshento Wan and Momonga could truly be called ‘Magic Casters’. With the exception of Amanomahitotsu, who specialised entirely in Crafting classes, the others were all martial based. Given that they were now physically their characters, could they still utilise their abilities fully, or would their relative inexperience at actual combat hinder them?

The Werewolf grinned, and began to transform back into his true, bestial form. “Aura, Mare,” The Werewolf called out, and the two Dark Elves snapped to attention. “Ya must’ve been bored right? Waitin’ around all this time. When’s the last time you had a decent opponent?” He clapped his hands together, flexing his muscles as the bone spikes began to emerge from his back.

“W-well, it has been pretty boring… Right Mare?” When her brother didn’t respond immediately, Aura elbowed him sharply and he let out a squeak.

“Ah! Um… y-yeah…” Momonga couldn’t help but feel that Mare didn’t really mean those words. The poor Dark Elf looked positively terrified of what might be coming next.

“How about a game to liven things up then?” A game? It seemed pretty childish, but looking at Aura’s excited face, perhaps that just made it more appropriate. “Amano, can I trouble ya to change the arena up a little? Just flat ground ain’t much fun.”

The Dragonblooded blinked slowly, and nodded only marginally faster. He didn’t look like he’d been paying much attention to what they were saying, too enamored with the sky. Gently, he placed his hands on the ground.“「 **Grand Creation** 」.” Immediately, the stone and dirt beneath them groaned and heaved, hairline cracks forming in neat, geometric lines as stone walls, mounds and arches all rose up. Using a spell like this, Amanomahitotsu could easily construct a city with enough thought and time, but to create a something resembling a playground seemed a bit excessive.

Mekongawa was bouncing on his feet, almost as excited as Aura - or more so. Really, the sight of a seven feet plus tall, slavering beast bouncing up and down on his feet with the air of an energetic child was especially strange. The Werewolf reached into the air, his hand disappearing up to the elbow as he rummaged around in what appeared to be a dimensional rift. It only took a moment for the others to realise that he was only using his Item Box, something especially clear when all he retrieved was a round 「 **Leather Ball** 」, the size of a man’s head. A cheap, easily bought item that served no real purpose than to allow YGGDRASIL players to… play with a ball. It was meant as a demonstration of what a Dive MMORPG was capable of, more than anything, a demo for YGGDRASIL’s capabilities. How you could move, act, do just about anything. Some players had gone so far as to make entirely player driven sports leagues.

“Brilliant stuff! Now, the game I’m thinkin’ of… Chagama, Peroro, Brandish, are you in as well?”

Bukubukuchagama nodded heartily, clamping a hand down on Peroroncino’s shoulder. “We’re in!” She declared, pumping her fist and beginning to dissolve into her ‘true’ form.

“Don’t decide that for other people!” Peroroncino squawked, wings flapping in frustration… but otherwise not refuting anything his sister said.

“A game sounds like an excellent bonding exercise!” Brandish cried out, striking a dynamic pose. “I fear I might be getting in over my head playing in a game with one such as yourself Mekongawa-dono, but I shall endure!”

“Super!” The Werewolf began to spin the ball on a clawed finger, grinning wildly, “The rules are pretty simple.” He tossed the ball into the air, clapping his hands together. As it spun in the air, it seemed to shimmer and split into three separate balls each tinted a different colour; one Red, one Green, one Blue. The Red Ball landed neatly in Mekongawa’s hands, the Green in Peroroncino’s surprised talons, and the last in Aura’s grip. “We’ll compete for control over these balls. Three Balls, Three Teams. Aura and Mare, you’re Team Blue. Pervoro, Chagama, you’re Team Green. And naturally, that leaves Brandish and I as Team Red. Time limit is until the last Floor Guardian arrives for the meetin’.” As he divided the players up, they moved over to stand by their other teammates - or rather, Brandish did, as the others were already together, being sibling pairs.

“At game over, retainin’ control over your own Ball is worth two points, and possessin’ another team’s ball is a single point. Anyone possessin’ a ball ain’t allowed to be outside the bounds of the arena. In the event that a ball is sent outta bounds, then we’ll just get one of the audience to toss it back in. As well as that, each person can only hold one ball - in other words, the maximum score ya can achieve is three. In the event someone gets possession of two balls, intentionally or otherwise, they will be forced to surrender both balls to the opposin' teams. Possession of a ball will be defined as a stable hold on the ball, not just touchin' it. So knockin' away other balls is totally fine if ya got one in yer hands, but if game's up and you're just touchin' the ball with your foot, ya ain't gettin' the score. The exception to this rule, is if one team manages to obtain all Three Balls - in which case, not only do they get ta keep 'em, but they instantly win. Referee has final call on it. Finally, whilst this ain’t strictly speakin’ a gladiatorial combat, the full use of abilities, spells, items, et cetera is allowed within reason. Momonga, as Guild Master, can I ask ya to referee?” Momonga ‘blinked’ at being called out like this, but he nodded anyway. It wasn’t that much of a responsibility, and watching them compete could be fun.

Mare however, seemed positively terrified. “W-we’ll be fighting the Supreme Beings…?” He muttered, eyes wide and knees trembling.

“Chin up, Mare-san!” Brandish cried out, thumping his armored chest with a fist, “Whilst it is true that we are indeed quite powerful, you are our treasured creations that we worked so hard to bring to life!”

“What Brandish is trying to say,” Chagama bubbled, forming a relatively humanoid shape of dripping pink ooze, “is that we’ll be holding back against you. Against each other, however…” There was an almost malevolent glint in her voice.

For a moment, Momonga feared for Mekongawa and Brandish.

Mekongawa clearly didn’t share his sentiments, given that he was cracking his knuckles. “Fightin’ words Bubbles. How about we spice it up a little? Losers owe the Victors one single favour. Whaddya say?”

“You’re on, poodleboy. I’ll have you be my slave for a week.”

Enshento Wan only shook his head, wings twisting around him in circles. “Well, if that’s decided… we’ll be in the VIP Box. Aura, Mare? Show them a thing or two.” He called out, opening yet another portal.

 

* * *

 

In the safety of the VIP Box, Momonga, Amanomahitotsu and Enshento Wan were able to relax, sitting down in chairs specifically crafted for each of them - although they never realised they’d use it like this. It took a little fiddling with a magic item stored on this level, but an array of magical sensors activated, giving them a panopticon through which to view the arena’s ground floor with and even a microphone and speaker system modelled with magic. In order to truly create the sense of a gladiatorial spectacle, even this much hadn’t been overlooked.

“This feels nostalgic, doesn’t it?” Enshento Wan murmured, leaning back in his leather armchair. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to sit down, relax and watch something entertaining.” Momonga couldn’t help but nod as well. The Angel ran a hand down his face, and it felt like the calm, collected figure he’d been earlier was discarded like an old suit. The crisis seemingly managed, he was letting Momonga and Amano see what he was feeling. “Haaa… what a ridiculous situation though. Peroroncino-kun was right - what sort of ridiculous anime plot is this?”

“You said it yourself, Enshento-san. It could be a dream,” Momonga offered, silently thinking that the most unrealistic part of this was that everyone had come back just like he had hoped. Well, not everyone. “Even being with everyone like this feels like a dream to me,” He admitted, “So even if it is one, I think I’ll just sit here and enjoy it for as long as I can.”

The Angel looked over at him silently, and then burst into laughter without warning.

“Eh? Enshento-san?”

He waved him off lightly, running a hand down his face again. “It’s because Momonga-kun says things like that,” He murmured, giving him a honest and genuine, if small, smile, “that we couldn’t accept anyone else as our Guild Master.”

Amano made something that sounded like agreement to Momonga’s right, and the Overlord lowered his head, silently glad he had no flesh to blush with.

“Haaaa… I guess you have the right idea of it Momonga-kun, as usual. I said it earlier, didn’t I? Worrying about it won’t help, so I should take my own advice and just… roll with it for now.”

At Enshento Wan’s exhausted expression, Momonga felt the need to say something and shook his head. “I don’t think so at all, Enshento-san!”

The Angel blinked at him owlishly, eyes just a little too large and bright to be a human’s.

“Rather, now that we know we aren’t in imminent danger, isn’t expressing one’s fear and worries a healthy thing to do? Worrying about it may not change the situation, but expressing that worry can help you feel better.”

The Angel’s face broke out into another small smile, shaking his head slowly. “You should’ve been a therapist, Momonga-kun. What about you? Don’t you feel worried?”

Momonga shook his head again.

The Angel just nodded. “The effects of being Undead, perhaps. In some ways, it’s slightly worrying that our new forms can affect us so grandly. In others, it’s reassuring.”

“Reassuring? How so, Enshento-san?”

“Being able to calmly make decisions without being influenced by emotions is a good quality to have. In crisis situations, it’s easy to be overtaken by the heart. Training and preparation can only do so much to fortify the mind - knowing that no matter what happens, Momonga-kun will be able to think calmly and rationally is reassuring. Besides… if it’s Momonga-kun, then emotions or not, I’m sure everything will be fine with your leadership." Enshento smiled softly at him, and for a moment there was only silence as Momonga tried to absorb the praise and commendations. For someone who had felt abandoned all this time, these past few hours were an emotional torrent. "Ah… looks like they’re ready. They’ve all given the signal that they’re in position.”

“Well then,” Momonga said, reaching for a wand that resembled a microphone. “ **GAME START!** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally planned to post this chapter a week after the first, but I got sick of waiting. That said, I have a total of four chapters written, including ones posted, and am working on the fifth. Part of the reason I delay from posting is because every day I reread them, and every day I find something new to correct. You'd think I'd catch most of them the first few times, but no.
> 
> If you see any punctuation or spelling errors, sentences that I just forgot to finish for whatever reason - let me know!


	3. Come On and Slam (And Welcome To The Feelings Jam)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bukubukuchagama, Peroroncino, Brandish, Mekongawa and the Fiore Twins play a game with a perhaps unexpected winner.
> 
> Momonga delivers a heartfelt speech. Amano continues to speak more often and more verbosely than people expect him to. Despite this, nobody thinks to revise their expectations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the 'Game' between the six of them is mostly just an excuse to elaborate and explore facets of their builds. Canonically speaking, Peroroncino is a Long Range Fighter (his top range is something like two kilometres apparently) and Bukubukuchagama is quite focused on Defense. Mekongawa and Brandish are of course just using shit I came up with and thought sounded reasonable. A fun exercise in itself!
> 
> I did spend a lot of time thinking about their individual builds and what kind of players they might be. Overlord implies that there was a _lot_ of different ways you could build, and I tried to vary it as much as I could. Even though, this chapter only sort of scratches at the top of some of the details I created.

With the Green Team, Bukubukuchagama and Peroroncino, planning was a tricky thing. Their opponents were the Red Team, composed of Mekongawa and Brandish, and the Blue Team, consisting of Aura and Mare. Naturally, being the latter's creator, Bukubukuchagama had an edge in anticipating their plans and ideas, but it had been a long time since she had even glanced at their settings. Whilst she could vividly remember many of their key powers and skills, there was inevitably going to be something she had forgotten.

Of more immediate worry was the Red Team.

“Mekongawa just ducked into that cave, other there,” Peroroncino muttered, hawk-like eyes narrowed sharply. “He was carrying their ball as well, left hand. No windows, no other entrances I can see. One way in, one way out.”

“Okay, so it’s obviously a trap,” Bukubukuchagama burbled, her amorphous mass shifting and changing. She’d discarded her humanoid form in preparation for combat - holding it wasn’t hard per se, but it was a distraction, and a distraction wasn’t something she could risk against opponents of this calibre. “If he’s taking cover, then it’s to avoid you. He probably wants to lure me in there and then he’ll spring whatever he’s got planned. Does the cave have any bends or anything?”

Peroroncino was hovering above her, just high enough to see over most of the obstacles. The advantage of flight was not one to be ignored. “No. It’s just a small straight tunnel that goes nowhere.”

“What are the chances that it heads underground?”

Peroroncino made a surprisingly expressive face given that it was mostly chitinous beak. “Amano-san would go that far, wouldn’t he… I can’t tell like this. It’s definitely a possibility.” He began to descend slowly, coming to rest on the ground with a small huff. “But that kind of thing puts me at a massive disadvantage. I can’t compete with Mekongawa or Brandish in close quarters. If Brandish still had his 「 **Flowers in Full Bloom** 」, I’d still have trouble with him at mid range.”

Bukubukuchagama nodded - or more accurately, the mass of slime that could be considered her ‘head’ nodded. “Right. Let’s assume no tunnels for now. Mekongawa… do you remember if he can dig?”

“What? Like a mole?” Peroroncino frowned, wings folding up against his back. “… I can’t remember anything like that. He had some levels in trap-based classes though, but I don’t know if they give access to tunnelling or digging or anything like that. Probably not making his own tunnels. If it’s just a straight entry way, I could attack through it?”

“That could be a trap as well.”

“Somehow, I’m starting to get the feeling that _this_ is the trap,” Peroroncino said sullenly, a bubbling sense of frustration building up inside of him. Was this how fighting against Mekongawa felt like? He’d never known, given they were in the same Guild, but he had participated in what the werewolf liked to call a ‘Trap Op’. If Traditional PvP could be considered as hunting and tracking down a target, then Mekongawa’s preferred methodology was more akin to fishing - casting out bait, and seeing what came. It was a style that required the patience to go a potentially long period without seeing any action, and the capability to adapt to whatever bit the bait. “I went with him once on one of his fishing trips,” He continued, equipping a bow - a relatively cheap filler one that you could find at any vendor, “It was half an hour before anyone tried to gank him. He’s patient enough to sit there for this entire match and wait us out. More then that, the longer he goes without being bothered, the more traps he can lay and prepare in that cave. By twenty minutes, it’s going to be impossible to penetrate.”

The Slime bubbled next to him, adjusting her large heater shield - another vendor item. “So he might be intending to fortify and entrench himself. He won’t win like that though; it’d mean Brandish-kun will have to capture a Ball and then defend it by himself - the rules are set up so that if a Team has two balls, they’re winning. It’s possible Brandish could take our Ball, or the Blue Ball, but he can’t possibly defend it. If one person has a Ball and has to defend it by themselves, then aren’t they too much of a target? And I can't see Brandish managing to take _two_ balls by himself.” She equipped a second Shield in a separate tendril, testing it’s heft and weight. “Our safest option would then to attempt to engage the Blue Team, and take theirs, and then defend against three opponents if Mekongawa intends to entrench… but that wouldn’t be very _fun_ at all.”

Peroroncino didn't like that tone. “Sis, no.” A futile plea, as the Unsinkable Slime Shield had already made up her mind. No force in Heaven or Hell could change it.

“Sis, YES!” And with that, Bukubukuchagama charged off, shields raised. “If Mekongawa wants to play mind games, that’s fine! The answer in this situation is to do the unthinkable! The unexpected!” She called out, surging forward with surprising speed as her brother took to the sky after her with a chagrined air, ball clutched in his feet.

A useful thing to be capable of as a Winged Lord, especially given that he would need both hands to use his bow. “Why do I have to be dragged along like this?” He muttered, already notching an arrow.

 

* * *

 

Mekongawa hummed thoughtfully to himself as he tossed the ball up and down in his hand, eyes trained on the entrance. Any minute now Bukubukuchagama would likely get frustrated and end up charging in. It was possible she wouldn’t and that Peroroncino would attack from range - but that was fine. In a Trap Op, you had to be prepared for eventualities like that. The fish couldn’t be expected to behave how you wanted it to, so you just had to limit it’s options and then prepare for each one. With only one direction to attack from, preparing was easy. If Bukubukuchagama attempted a straight forward charge, he had a 「 **Pitfall Trap** 」 prepared and set. If Peroroncino bombarded him from afar? Well, that was why he was in here, and his partner was outside waiting to see the results. Or at least, that’s how they’d planned it. So why was he hearing something tapping and rapping up against the back wall?

“Oh no,” He mumbled to himself, blanching as the dawning realisation of what was happening came over him. He equipped a tower shield in one hand and braced himself behind it just in time for the back wall to be smashed open with a thunderous rumble.

“ _Oh yeah!_ ” She sounded like she was enjoying her dynamic entry, a large heater shield in front of her as she plowed through the wall.

‘ _Well, this isn’t good,_ ’ He thought to himself, eyeing the second shield the slime was bringing to bear, ‘ _She didn’t fall for the trap and now I’m in close combat._ ’ Although he couldn’t tell, her thoughts were a mirror of his, delighted in the advantage she had over him in this current situation. Two more tendrils formed out of her mass, whipping through the air with the sound of rushing wind. _‘Great. Even more of a disadvantage._ ’

As a Slime-type race, Bukubukuchagama’s equipment slots were naturally different from a more humanoid figures - whilst she was capable of equipping a main ‘Chest’ piece slot, the remaining potential slots could be transformed as her form dictated. In this example, she traded the potential of possessing boots and gauntlets in favour of possessing two more ‘Hand’ slots in which to equip weapons or shields. However, rather than fully capitalize on that advantage by having yet more shields or even some basic weapons, she opted to keep those ‘hands’ free. The reasoning was simple - she had to have something to capture the ball with, and like this, she already outgunned Mekongawa. If it became necessary, she could equip a third item but for now, two shields would do. Using shields as weapons might’ve put her at a disadvantage but as she had built herself almost entirely around defense, it was only natural.

Right now though? She was eyeing him warily. ‘ _A Tower Shield?_ ’ She mused silently, watching the way he crouched behind it as they regarded themselves in a stand off. ‘ _Could Mekongawa equip those…?_ ’

“Well, Bukubukuchagama… how unexpected of you to drop in like this.”

If she had eyes, they’d narrow. “You aren’t Mekongawa,” She said simply, deciding that perhaps a third shield would be necessary.

‘Mekongawa’ blinked, before letting out an amused sigh, and relaxing. “Ah… what gave it away? Bukubukuchagama-dono.” He shimmered, and where the werewolf had stood, there was the relatively shorter but significantly more armoured figure of Brandish, still holding the ball in one hand.

She moved her shields into a triangle formation. “You called me by my full name for starters, Mekongawa never does that. For anyone. Secondly, you’re using a Tower Shield - even my memory’s good enough to remember that Mekongawa uses Dual Fist Weapons… although I didn’t remember he could use 「 **Disguise** 」. Finally, the voice was good, but your way of speaking is too formal,” She listed off. 

「 **Disguise** 」 was a versatile skill that allowed one to manipulate appearances. A basic illusion requiring prolonged but temporary contact, it was not limited to changing the user's appearance. Wily Player's manipulated the appearance of items, other people, even NPC's and basic objects. Of course, it's primary limitation was size - the skill had some leeway, but it was beyond it's abilities for Mekongawa to take on the appearance of Mare or vice versa.

“Astute of you, Bukubukuchagama-dono. As expected of one Ainz Ooal Gown’s tacticians! Now… what will you do?” He raised his shield in preparation, and that only made her more cautious.

‘ _Brandish uses a Lance and Shield, but he can’t use both right now, so he’s opting to be defensive. If it comes down to a fight between Shield Users… I have him beat. But he knows that._ ’ Shield-based skills were rarely utilised even in PvE situations. It was widely believed that even a top tier tank only needed ten or so - but the amount that Bukubukuchagama possessed was unparalleled in Yggdrasil at over forty. ‘ _If he wants to defeat me, he needs both hands free. So either he’ll try to drop the ball and keep me away, or he has a trick up his sleeve… easy way to prevent both._ ’

“「 **Shield Wall** 」. 「 **Shield Fortress** 」. 「 **Parry Missiles** 」. Little brother!” With three of her buffs active, she called out to Peroroncino. Brandish twitched - thinking of this as a one on one battle had been a mistake. ' _Whoops._ '

“「 **Sunless Sky** 」!” Immediately, an endless barrage of arrows begin to rain down upon the two of them. Bukubukuchagama, with her buffs securely activated, was more than safe. Behind his tower shield, Brandish was likewise protected, but it left him without the ability to move as he pleased. More then that - he couldn’t risk swapping his shield out for a lance unless he intended to allow himself to be riddled with arrows. ‘ _Ah, their teamwork is pretty good,_ ’ He thought wistfully, ‘ _As expected of Ainz Ooal Gown’s greatest sibling team! Although there aren’t any other sibling teams… Oh well. If it’s teamwork, we won’t be beat!_ ’

As if answering that very thought Mekongawa made himself known. Silently, but powerfully, he had leaped into the air behind Peroroncino, cloaking his movements with stealth skills before volleyball spiking the ball straight out of his talons.

“Wha-Mekongawa?!”

“Surprise!” He shouted, grinning madly.

Immediately, Brandish tossed the Red Team’s ball towards Mekongawa’s direction, neatly catching the Green Team’s Ball as it soared towards him, the Green Team themselves still too stunned to react.

Catching her wits, Bukubukuchagama glanced up, mentally estimating her ability to jump up and intercept Brandish’s pass, before dismissing it as unlikely. Too high up for her, but not for…

“Brother! Intercept!” She called out, and the Winged Lord didn’t hesitate to obey, wings shifting position before he suddenly descended at high speed, taloned foot held outstretched to dive bomb the pass with the accuracy and speed of a peregrine falcon. There was never a chance of that pass making it.

“Ha! Got it!” He crowed, taking to the air again as Mekongawa landed softly behind him. “Eat shit Mek… _what._ ” Peroroncino’s gloating came to an abrupt end as he realised something was wrong - the ball didn't feel right in his talon's. When he glanced back to where Mekongawa was, he was already gone.

“Your talons are quite sharp, Peroroncino-dono,” said the Ball clutched in the Winged Lord’s talons.

‘ _No… they didn’t… A second disguise?!_ ’And just like that, it shimmered, revealing the smiling face of none other than Brandish - sans helmet. A sight so rare, Peroroncino wasn't even sure he could remember a time he saw the Headless Horror out of his armor. He had a tanned face that had paled somewhat in undeath, soulless purple eyes that glowed with just a hint of something malevolent, and a messy head of light purple hair. Somehow, Peroroncino couldn’t bring himself to be surprised that Brandish had chosen such an appearance - his main armor set was a similar shade of purple, and even his hand-crafted weapon he had specifically requested be coloured some shade of purple.

“But! I must go. My body needs me. 「 **Head Return** 」!” A simple racial skill was all it took for his head to return to it’s place at the stump of his body’s neck. He swapped his shield for his lance, and began to run toward the nearest wall, cackling as he ran.

“Oh no you don’t!” Bukubukuchagama roared, charging toward him with two shields held together like a wedge, the third held above to protect from attacks on high. “「 **Charging Shield Assault** 」!” Like this, it seemed as though Brandish was caught between a rock and a hard place - and the rock was coming in quickly.

“「 **Lance Vault** 」!” He dug the tip of his lance into the ground and pole vaulted into the air, sailing through the air, right over the wall. He sent a wave of panic to Mekongawa along the mental link formed by the 「 **Message** 」 spell - a basic skill given to all Players, and one that Peroroncino and Bukubukuchagama had forgotten they could utilise but Team Red very much abused for coordinating. “ _Mekongawa-dono! I’m not going to be able to outrun her, and there’s no use trying to use obstacles!_ ” As if to verify that point of his, Bukubukuchagama just plowed straight through the wall with no sign of slowing down. “ _For someone who specialises entirely in Defense, she’s terrifyingly strong!_ ” A sense of calm pushed itself through the link.

“ _It’s fine, Brandish, I’ll come help ya in a moment. Just avoid her for now._ ” Brandish nodded solemnly, steeling himself to 「 **Lance Vault** 」 over another wall when suddenly, he felt a wave of weakness wash over him. ‘ _What? What’s…_ ’ Something tightened around his foot. Suddenly, his view was turned upside down, just long enough for his head to fall off and roll along the ground.

“What the-a trap?!” Tied tightly around his foot was a steel cable, hoisting him up into the air - a simple snare trap. “ _Mekongawa-dono! I’ve been trapped! Was Peroroncino-dono or Bukubukuchagama-dono capable of this?_ ” As if answering that very thought, Bukubukuchagama smashed through the second wall… only to be stopped by a pitfall trap as she stumbled suddenly, a cry of frustration echoing out from the new hole. ‘ _No… if she had set that up or known about it, she wouldn’t have fallen into it. That means…_ ’

“Oh… it actually got them,” murmured a soft voice, just barely audible. The speaker stepped out from behind the corner he was hiding behind, revealing the shy, demure Mare Bello Fiora. “Sorry, Brandish-sama,” He continued, stepping forward with his staff raised. “Big Sis told me to. 「 **Stunning Blow** 」.” And that was the last thing Brandish saw.

 

* * *

 

“ _Brandish? Brandish? Come in, Brandish!_ ” No response. Mekongawa huffed, still running full tilt from a hail of arrows. His head start had evaporated thanks to Peroroncino's flight advantage and ridiculous vision. Now he was just barely outrunning Peroroncino’s bombardment, but taking cover from time to time helped. ‘ _If he’s not responding, then Bubbles probably got him. Still, it’s taking nearly everything I have to outrun Pervoro’s arrows. But, if I can close the distance I can take him out. He knows it though, so it’s not going to be easy._ ’ He paused, smirking lightly. ‘ _But then, it wouldn’t be fun if it was._ ’ He took a deep breath to continue running, but something snagged on his foot and he ended up tumbling towards the ground. “Shit!” He cursed, turning his tumble into a dive roll for a nearby wall.

He tripped? Almost unthinkable. But he’d think about it later. For now he had to escape this situation… and he had just the plan. He whispered a skill quietly under his breath, “「 **Decoy** 」.” In his hands a scarecrow formed, and he planted it solidly in the ground. “「 **Smoke Bomb** 」. 「 **Doppelganger** 」. 「 **Erase Presence** 」.” Smoke rushed out from all around him, forming a thick cloud as he seemed to split into four, all of which ran in a different direction full pelt, with one exception. The real Mekongawa simply threw himself to the ground. “「 **Meld** 」.” The last skill activated was a time based camouflage skill - the longer he spent not moving beyond a small threshold, the greater the camouflaging ability, until after a period of ten minutes, he would appear absolutely identical to the ground.

Of course, it was still possible to smell or hear his breathing - but 「 **Erase Presence** 」 was a skill that handled that side of stealth. With 「 **Smoke Bomb** 」 covering what was happening, Peroroncino would see the three 「 **Doppelganger** 」 fakes and likely attack them - attacking all three at once was easily within his capabilities. They weren’t stable illusions though, and would poof after a single hit. Finally, he would likely inspect what was happening - and either strike the Decoy, or realise it is a fake and then hopefully, as he planned it would go, Pervoro would leave to search for him, believing that he had gotten away somehow. Even if Peroroncino did strike him whilst he was under 「 **Meld** 」, provided he didn’t react too much, the Winged Lord would probably not notice, such was the power of the skill.

“「 **Arrow Rain** 」!” Well, he hadn’t planned for that. The entire area was pelted with arrows, and so the Doppelgangers burst like cheap balloons, and even the Decoy resembled a reverse hedgehog after mere seconds. Right. Pervoro could do that. He could feel every arrow as it pierced through him, even though all anyone saw was an arrow landing in the ground like the others. Pain… pain was something that didn’t really occur in Yggdrasil, but it was sure as hell occurring now. Well, he could deal with it. He’d have to deal with it. If a simple rain of arrows was enough to make him curl up and cry, what kind of Beast King would he be?

Finally, the bombardment ceased, but he didn’t relax. He couldn’t exactly roll over and look up to see if Peroroncino was still watching, so he’d have to wait for a while and then make a break for it when he thought it was safe. That was fine. He was patient. The ground was sort of soft too, and despite the pain, he could almost fall asleep here. ‘ _Wait… no._ ’ His nostrils twitched. Something in the air? ‘ _A gas? Could Peroroncino do that… that kind of…_ ’ He felt his eyes threatening to slip shut, and he decided it was now or never and broke the stealth, rising up to try and assess what was going on. He glanced around just in time to see Peroroncino drop to the ground, already snoring. ‘ _It got him too? But then…_ ’ Dazedly, his eyes managed to barely make out a small, white-clad figure walking toward him, bright blonde hair and tanned skin. “Ah…” He mumbled, eyes sliding shut, “Aura. Clever girl.” He didn’t even feel the hand taking the ball from him as he fell to the ground - he’d already fallen asleep.

 

* * *

 

In the VIP Building, the three spectators were watching with great amusement. Watching the six of them compete had been entertaining to say the least, but also quite insightful. The use of skills, equipment and all the resulting effects. All of it had been captured through the powerful Arcane Sensors, and all of it had been absorbed by the spectators. For Momonga, who had never really seen Mekongawa’s ‘Trap Ops’ in action, it was enlightening. He knew Mekongawa was considered the crafty, deceitful member of the Guild when it came to things like this, but as far as he had experienced, it had been a simple tendency to cheat at cards.

“Haaa… that’s what they get for forgetting about the Fiore Twins,” Enshento said, leaning back in his chair with a slight grin. He’d made no secret that he was cheering for the NPC’s since the beginning. “More than just bein’ defeated by them, it was a total victory. Absolutely crushed.”

Momonga nodded, admittedly impressed at the Twins but also faintly amused at the Angel's words. “Enshento-san, you say things like that but aren't you responsible for their victory?"

Enshento gave him a look that was the very picture of innocence. "Me? Responsible? I don't know what you're talking about Momonga-kun. I've been right here in the VIP Box this entire time. What could I have possibly done?"

Momonga could only give him an amused stare. "Of course. And Enshento-san definitely did not use「 **Message** 」to give Blue Team information or advice," He said, watching him nod in affirmation.

"Exactly! That would've been ridiculous."

"And you didn't「 **Jinx** 」Mekongawa-san to make him trip" Momonga continued, holding up a hand as he started to list off things that Enshento definitely did not do, "Or put a 「 **Major Image** 」over those traps to make it harder for them to notice."

"Of course not. That would be silly, Momonga-kun. Your imagination is very vivid."

There was a brief silence, Momonga silently studying Enshento's face as though it held the answers to the universe. Finally he nodded. "Enshento-san is angry he wasn't invited to play," He declared, immediately causing Enshento to freeze before he huffed and turned his nose up. ' _Ah... he looks like a bratty prince..._ '

"I don't know what you're talking about, Momonga-kun," He said imperiously, pretty much confirming Momonga's suspicions, "Even if that were true, I certainly would not respond by interfering. And even if I did, it's not as though Mekongawa-kun banned interference from the spectators." He spoke again before Momonga could begin properly teasing him, changing topics with all the grace of a charging hippo. "What do you think they'll ask for as their reward?"

"Ah..." He scratched his jawbone. He didn't really know enough about either Aura or Mare to know the answer to that question, but if he had to guess... "I imagine they'll probably want to spend time with Bukubukuchagama-san."

“They did well,” Amano said softly, getting surprised looks from the other two - sometimes it was hard to remember that he was present. “Whatever they ask for, they deserve it.”

“That they did,” Momonga said, chuckling a little as he stood up. Enshento only nodded briefly standing up from his chair with a stretch as Momonga continued, “Shall we congratulate them then, Enshento-san, Amano-san?”

“After you, Momonga-kun." It was Momonga's turn to open a 「 **Portal** 」and he had to admit he could see why Enshento used it so much. The feeling was a little strange, but there was an odd rush as his mind realised ' _I'm casting Magic. Literal Magic. This is a Spell._ '

The winners of the game, Team Blue, were reacting in two quite different ways. Mare was apologising profusely to Bukubukuchagama, who had climbed out of the Pit Trap she'd been temporarily caught in.

Aura, meanwhile, seemed almost giddy with excitement. "Ah! Momonga-sama! Enshento Wan-sama, Amanomahitotsu-sama! Were you watching? Did you see it?" She bounded up to them as they stepped out of the portal, beaming brightly. "We did it! We won!"

"Of course we did, Aura," Momonga reached forward to ruffle her hair, surprised at how soft and silky it felt even under his bony fingers. No wonder everyone had done it earlier. "You fought very skillfully."

He glanced at Enshento, who was the perfect picture of innocence innocence as he drifted along the ground, humming some tune to himself as he slowly approached Mekongawa's sleeping form. "Have you and Mare given any thought to what you will ask as a prize? It is your choice after all."

"A-ah... we couldn't really ask the Supreme Beings for anything!" She exclaimed, waving her hands a little, "It's... it's enough just having Bukubukuchagama-sama back."

"Nonsense," Amano said, almost surprising Momonga as he stepped up next to him. "Receiving a prize for winning, being rewarded for exceptional work. These things are only natural." His hands glowed, and he held them together before pulling them apart slowly as something began to take shape in between them. "「 **Major Creation** 」. A trophy for your victory." In his hands was a golden statue of Aura and Mare, exceptionally detailed - standing right next to them, Momonga could almost swear that Amano had simply shrunken them down and turned them into gold. Aura was posed with a hand on her hip, feet placed wide and her other hand outstretched making a 'V' with her fingers with a cheesy wink and grin. Mare on the other hand, had been situated behind her, as if peeking out from her shadow. ' _Amano-san really has an eye for detail..._ ' Normally such a spell would require hours of design and fiddling with the creation tools - but it seemed that all Amano required now was a clear mental image of what he wished to create. Although perhaps more than being impressed with Amano's craftsmanship, he was certainly impressed with the look on Aura's face. The pure unadulterated joy made him wish he could smile.

"If you're still wondering what to ask," Enshento called out, retrieving a... carafe? A carafe from his Item Box. Wait. Momonga recognised that carafe... "I can't speak for what to ask Peroroncino-kun or Bukubukuchagama-chan, or even Brandish-kun, but why not ask Mekongawa-kun to let you ride him around for a bit? It'd be just like riding Fenrir." He sounded so cheerful even as he fiddled with what Momonga was ninety percent sure was a 「 **Decanter of Endless Water** 」, a relatively low-level magic item that many Players carried around to satisfy their need to drink. Momonga of course, had no such need, but it was still something that had it's uses. Especially given that the Decanter had several 'modes' ranging from drip to relatively fast pour to weak pressure hose. It lacked any real combat or utility at higher levels, but the latter use could be used to fight fires or douse torches... or more commonly, to hose your friends in mock water fights, as Enshento was clearly preparing to do.

"I wouldn't mind doing something like that either Aura-chan," Bukubukuchagama said, shifting her form back to something more humanoid. "Although I have to admit that was surprisingly fun. We should do it more often! With more teams! We could make it a team building exercise!"

For some reason, Momonga had the thought of Demiurge and Sebas Tian working together as a pair, although he was projecting Ulbert and Touch Me on both of them. He chuckled, ignoring the looks some of the others sent him.

By this point, Enshento had clearly figured out how to activate the maximum pressure setting on the carafe and drifted back lightly before pointing it at Mekongawa's face. "I think in terms of the bet, given that Peroroncino-kun and Brandish-kun both had no input in it, they should be excluded. It's only fair," He said cheerfully as he thumbed the activation rune. It only took a moment of hosing to wake the snoring werewolf, who reacted with all the grace and poise that most people did when woken up by a torrent of water. Enshento's wings flapped once to bring him squarely out of range as Mekongawa started shouting obscenities at him, shaking a clawed fist angrily at the laughing angel.

Ignoring their antics for the most part, Bukubukuchagama just nodded. "That's something that seems fair enough. So, Aura-chan, Mare-chan - what are you going to ask of us?" The Fiore Twins shared a glance before moving away to huddle together and discuss something in hushed whispers. Or rather, Aura pulled Mare aside and began talking to him in hushed whispers.

As this happened, Enshento had 'accidentally' hosed Peroroncino as he continued to blast Mekongawa with the torrent. Peroroncino's first reaction had been to take to the air after him, before pulling out his own 「 **Decanter of Endless Water** 」 and engaging Enshento in an aerial water fight. This left Mekongawa, sopping wet and looking somewhere between amused and annoyed, with little recourse but to return to the others.

"Wow. When he acts like that, Enshento-kun's appearance seems much more fitting," Bukubukuchagama chirped, watching their strange dog fight.

"Really?" Mekongawa grumbled, shaking himself in a manner very much like a wet dog attempting to dry itself, "I was thinkin' maybe instead of bein' an Angel, he shoulda been a Devil." After another vigorous shake, he seemed to have managed to dry himself for the most part, but this just had the more hilarious side effect of making his fur incredibly poofy. After a single moment of staring, everyone else burst into laughter, and Mekongawa growled sullenly, beginning to shift into his more human form. "Anyway," He said, steadfastly ignoring the way his hair remained a frizzy mess and the fact that Bukubukuchagama was still giggling at him, "Did ya guys give any thought about what to say to the Guardians when they arrive?"

"Ah... I can't say I did," Momonga admitted a little sheepishly, "We got caught up in the game. It was very impressive."

"It's simple. More simple than perhaps we think." Momonga wondered if Amano-san was secretly annoyed that every time he spoke, everyone's first reaction was to be surprised. "We tell them the truth. We tell them-"

"We know what we want!" Aura said brightly, unintentionally interrupting what Amano was saying. Rather than chide her or even continue speaking, Amano immediately went silent, turning his attention to her, but not without glancing at Momonga. "We decided to split it - I get Bukubukuchagama-sama, Mare gets Mekongawa-sama."

Should he say something? He went to open his mouth to do just that, but as if sensing his thoughts, Amano shook his head just slightly. A ringing sound echoed in Momonga's head, and he realised with a start that it was the 「 **Message** 」 spell. Answering it was a little strange, but soon Amano's deep voice was speaking in his mind.

" _Not in front of them. But what we'll tell them is..._ " Momonga tuned out the discussion about Mekongawa and Bukubukuchagama's favours as Amano explained his idea for the speech.

 

* * *

 

“… so it is with great sadness that I must inform all of you, that of the Forty One Supreme Beings of Ainz Ooal Gown, only we Seven remain.” Momonga’s voice was calm and clear, a voice suited greatly for public speaking - by virtue of his position as Guildmaster, it was decided that he be the one to deliver the announcement. A set of Information Magic spells had turned this into less of a meeting with the Guardians, and more of a public broadcast, for which the Guardians had front row seats. He was thankful that his new form seemed to suppress his emotions to a degree, and made it much harder to read his expressions - the pressure of this sort of speech alone would’ve been enough to make Satoru Suzuki crumble, but Momonga the Overlord remained steadfast. “But do not feel that you were abandoned. Do not feel that your creators left you, our beloved creations, behind. In our hearts, all of us, we vast and mighty Supreme Beings… we all believed with complete certainty that there would come a day when you would go on without us. That there was a future for you that we could not be a part of. We believed this when we created you, when we created Nazarick. So each of us prepared for the moment when we would say ‘Farewell’.” Momonga paused here, letting it sink in as he studied the faces of the Floor Guardians. “Even I prepared to say goodbye. So sure were we of this inevitability, we did not believe even for a second that there was the slimmest of chances that we could avert this future.

"Forgive us, Denizens of Nazarick, for we were wrong.” All of them bowed in unison, a gesture of apology made unified through the use of 「 **Message** 」 to coordinate. “Many of us said our farewells prior to this day. ‘Goodbye’ is a painful thing to say, when you believe it to be the last one you will ever say. I volunteered to be the last to go, to stay with all of you until the final hour. To maintain and support Nazarick, support all of you until the time came for you to go where I, where _we_ could not follow, to pass through a door that was closed to us.” It had been Amano’s idea to frame the shutdown of YGGDRASIL in these kinds of terms. From the perspective of NPCs who remembered it not as a ‘Game’, but as ‘Reality’, it was easier to understand and digest. Bukubukuchagama and Mekongawa, who had experience in both writing and acting, gave him pointers and nudges. “When that time approached near, I asked all of Ainz Ooal Gown to meet once again, to say our final farewell as a Guild,” He continued, gesturing a hand to the others who were standing behind him looking serious and solemn, “But only six answered my call. Of those who refused, understand that you were not forgotten or abandoned. Know that you were still loved - indeed, it was love that prevented them from coming. For those who already said ‘Goodbye’, to return and to say it once again to their beloved creations… to our belief, it would serve nothing more to break their hearts all over again. Do not begrudge them their weakness, for it was not weakness at all. It was an admirable sacrifice of love. We Seven gathered and waited, prepared our last farewell, and believed with all our heart that you would’ve gone without us, into a brave new future.” He let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head ruefully.

“And as I said, we were wrong. When the door closed, we were beyond surprised to realise that it had closed with us on this side with you. We Seven are all that remains, but in truth, we did not choose to be. We were simply those who came to say ‘Goodbye’, without realising that we were not saying farewell to you, Nazarick - but to the world of before.” His tone grew more somber, although his face couldn’t. “For this reason as well, we do not believe that the other Supreme Beings will ever be able to rejoin us. That said, we believed it was impossible that we could not come with you - and we were wrong. It is still within the realm of possibility that we would be wrong about this. I will not deny you that hope, but I ask you to temper it with caution. But for now, rejoice, Nazarick!

"There is a bright new future, not just for all of you, but for us as well!” The Guardians cheered, their thunderous applause so loud that Momonga almost imagined he could hear the entirety of the Tomb cheering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I was really tempted to have Brandish make a 'It was I, Dio!' reference but I figured Kool Aid Guy was enough.
> 
> The idea of a 'Trap Op' was inspired by partially by the existence of 'Everybody can be a PKer', the (fictional) guide written by one of the members of Ainz Ooal Gown, Punitto Moe. Momonga references it a lot in his fight against Shalltear, and it can basically be summarised as 'learn all you can about your opponent and then plan everything accordingly'. But a good deal of the inspiration also came about simply because of one spell Momonga cast - 'False Data: Life'. That's a spell that tricks your opponents into thinking your HP value is different from what it really is. It's exact mechanics I'm not sure of (does Momonga control the display? Does it calculate a false value based on what damage he actually takes?) but it's very existence implies the ability to not just deceive enemies _but to specialise in it_. So Information Magic and 'Scry and Die' tactics are prevalent but there also exists Counter Information Magic - this means there is going to be a subset of players who are going to specialise in countering that.
> 
> So I made Mekongawa the Fantasy equivalent of Space Pirates luring people in with a distress beacon.


	4. The Slaughter at Carne Village (Have a Plan to Kill Everyone You Meet)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Maleficent Seven make contact with the outside world, although they're not all happy about it. They test the strength of the world, and find it wanting.
> 
> The Slaughter at Carne Village will go down in history books as the turning point of a new Age, although nobody can ever agree if it was for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you for reading this far!
> 
> Please comment or leave a kudos if you enjoyed reading it. Also comment if you didn't like reading it so you can tell me why! Or if you just noticed errors, typos or general mistakes. I intend to read and respond to every comment.

The Seven Supreme Beings of Ainz Ooal Gown sat around the Round Table, an echo of the Guild’s former glory and meetings. Like this, the array of great and terrible creatures on display almost looked like they were in a corporate meeting. In some ways, it wasn’t entirely wrong - they were engaged in a meeting to discuss plans and the future, but it wasn’t in search of profits or improving sales figures. “ _Just flat grassland, you said?_ ” The man, although to call him a man might’ve been wrong, was none other than the Guildmaster of Ainz Ooal Gown, Momonga, the Overlord. The one he spoke with was a servant of the Guild, the Chief Battle Butler Sebas Tian. This long distance communication was possible through the simple use of 「 **Message** 」. Versatile and almost excessively useful in their new world, a tool originally limited to Player communication suddenly became capable of interacting with beings formerly known as NPCs.

“ _Yes, Momonga-sama,_ ” came the reply, smooth and undisturbed. “ _We searched for a radius of one kilometer. Nothing but grassland as far as we could see._ ” If Momonga had lips, he’d chew them.

“ _Thank you Sebas, Delta. Please return at your earliest convenience._ ”

“ _Of course, Momonga-sama._ ” The 「 **Message** 」 spell ended, and Momonga turned his attention to the other Six, relaying the information he'd just received.

“Well… this sort of thing is to be expected I suppose,” Enshento said, resting his chin on a hand lazily. “Or rather than expected, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. We already disobey the rules of Yggdrasil in several ways - doesn’t it make sense that we’re no longer in Yggdrasil?”

A Homunculus Maid entered the Round Table room, pushing a trolley with a tea pot alongside several other bottles and an array of light snacks and treats on it, passing by Mekongawa first who plucked what looked like a set of bacon roses off, and a bottle of something red and clear and a tall glass to pour it in.

“Ain’t it a bit much though?” Mekongawa said, popping a rose into his mouth and chewing it only briefly. Momonga felt the tiniest spark of envy - it must be nice, being able to eat. Perhaps Amano-san could craft some sort of amulet or ring to give him a humanoid form, if only to enjoy the pleasures of fine food and drink? “I mean, the only rules we aren’t really obeyin’ are rules that make Yggdrasil a ‘Game’, y’know? Woulda been nice to still be in Yggdrasil. We know Yggdrasil.”

The maid moved on to Bukubukuchagama who, with a delicate tendril, took the tea pot and poured herself a cup, and selected a few scones for herself. There was something comical about the bulky, pink fleshy slime daintily holding a tea cup with a single tendril, but nobody was going to comment on that.

“It’s exciting isn’t it though? A whole new world. Think of the adventures! The challenges!” Peroroncino might have had stars in his eyes for all his excitement, wings bristling with feathers.

Enshento Wan retrieved a wine glass as well, but waived off any food. “Mekongawa-kun, please pass the wine. I must agree with Peroroncino-kun on this - Ainz Ooal Gown was… no, is the kind of Guild that dives forward with both feet. That said, the risks before were more clear, when all we had to lose was experience points and pride. We can assume that Resurrection Magic still functions as it did before, but that’s hardly a reason to go ahead and test it.” Mekongawa hurled the bottle at Enshento Wan with enough force and speed to rival an Olympian Discus Thrower, but Enshento caught it without a single sign of effort and began to pour himself a glass. “Thank you, Mekongawa-kun. Wine, Momonga-kun?”

Was it even possible for him to drink it? But the more Momonga thought about it, the more he realised that in Yggdrasil, although there had been no need for him, an Undead, to drink or eat food, he still consumed potions. The worst that could happen was that he stained his robes, or the seat underneath him. Embarrassing, but hardly a major issue if it meant he could actually taste things.

He took a wine glass from the Maid’s Cart, and nodded at Enshento. “Thank you, Enshento-san,” He said, pausing to study the Maid for a brief second before nodding at her as well, “And you as well, Cixous.” The Maid positively glowed at the recognition, her already cheerful demeanour taking on an entirely new level. ‘ _She’s not going to call me senpai is she? That would just be too much!_ ’ Carefully, he raised the glass to his bony mouth and, after a moment of hesitation, poured it between his open teeth. Taking a sip of wine was harder than it seemed without lips, but to his pleasant surprise, he could taste something, even if it seemed kind of muted. Better than nothing.

Bukubukuchagama poured some of her tea into… Momonga hesitated to call it a mouth, so much as it was a convenient opening she made. “Mmm! This is delicious, Cixous-chan,” She burbled, “So the issue right now is that we don’t know what we’re facing against in the world, right? Well, isn’t that easy enough to solve with Information Magic?” You could almost hear a pin drop, were it not for the Maid’s cart rattling just slightly as she pushed it along to Brandish’s seat. “… None of you thought of that at all, did you?” Bukubukuchagama giggled slightly, a discordant noise given her form.

Enshento coughed into his hand. “… No, no we did not. A mistake to be sure,” He admitted, taking a gulp of wine before making a wry face.

Brandish politely accepted a tea cup of his own and allowed the Maid to fill it.

“Using Information Magic, scrying our surroundings should be easy enough. There is the issue of what we might find though.” Enshento set the glass down, drumming his fingers on the table. “We don’t know what kind of world this is. What the technology is like. We might even be entirely alone, the only intelligent life.”

Peroroncino selected a lovely slice of cheesecake and some tea as well, before sending Cixous along with a slap on the rear, a gesture that the maid only answered with a light giggle. “Aren’t you worrying too much about possibilities, Enshento? All of those things are important, yes, but rather than waste time planning for what ifs, we should just find out what is, and then plan,” Peroroncino said, popping a spoonful of cheesecake into his beak. He didn’t really have teeth to chew with, so he simply swallowed the mouthful with a pleased sigh.

“I suppose you’re right. If nothing else, right now we need a plan of defense. If our surroundings are nothing but grassland, then anyone with the slightest hint of familiarity with the area is going to realise that the giant mound does not belong.”

Amano, the last to be served, took a teacup from the cart, and some rather dainty looking scones of his own, pouring himself a nice hot cup before thanking the Maid softly. If Bukubukuchagama had looked comical with a tea cup and saucer, then Amanomahitotsu looked positively ridiculous, forced to hold the cup with only two claws. “Disguising Nazarick?” He said thoughtfully, “If it’s like that… then perhaps I can level the mound somewhat. Raise the area around it to decrease the slope.”

The Maid pushed her trolley out of the room, her job done and all but glowing with the praise.

“Surely someone will still notice though, Amano-kun?” Bukubukuchagama bubbled, taking in another pour of her tea and sort of… absorbing a scone.

“Illusion Magic?” Peroroncino offered, spoon clinking against his plate. “If the goal is to prevent anyone from noticing Nazarick, then it’s the easiest and most obvious answer.”

Momonga shook his head. “That kind of magic would require constant maintenance. Someone would have to recast it multiple times, and even then it would still be at risk of failure. More then that… I do not believe any of us are skilled at Illusion Magic.” Momonga himself had specialised in Instant Death effects and Necromancy. The only other Magic Caster of the Seven, Enshento Wan, had specialised in support and summoning spells.

“I’m afraid Momonga-kun is right. Unless one of us is secretly a Master Illusionist, then we’re not going to be able to hide Nazarick using Magic alone. Not very effectively. More than that, there is the risk that someone has already found Nazarick. Mekongawa-kun, you’re the closest thing we have to an expert in deception and disguise. Input?”

He’d been uncharacteristically quiet for a bit, still chewing a bacon rose. “… If we assume that it’s impossible to completely hide Nazarick from attention,” He said slowly, reaching for his glass of wine, “Then we still have quite a few options for mundane tricks. First option is the simplest; we just try to hide that there’s anythin’ here of interest at all. Disguise the entrance, disguise the mound, do whatever. Simple, but not exactly what we’re lookin’ for. Second option; people will come when they know there’s something strange goin’ on, and they’ll investigate, so we’ll give them an answer to the mystery. If we were to just disguise the entrance to the Third Level, maybe move Shalltear down a floor, and then create a sorta mini-dungeon. If people assume they’ve already explored all there is, they’ll move on and never realise what there really was.” He took a sip of wine and then plucked another rose off his plate, tossing it into his mouth. “Course, if anyone gets past the trick, then things get kinda messy. It’s simple, it’s quick, but it could backfire. Now, Option number Three, and keep in mind that these are in no way mutually exclusive options, is somethin’ I’d like to call Three Tomb Monte. I don’t suppose any of ya are familiar with Three Card Monte?”

Enshento rather obviously telekinetically pulled a bacon rose from Mekongawa’s plate, catching it in his hand before the Beast King could react. “Nope,” He said, popping it into his mouth with a slight crunch, “But you’re going to tell us, aren’t you.” Mekongawa gave him a half-hearted glare but Enshento just responded by poking his tongue out like the child he appeared to be.

For a moment, Momonga thought they were going to start a food fight in the Round Table Room, silently wondering what happened to the dignified and formal Enshento Wan he remembered.

“Basic gist of Three Card Monte is this,” Mekongawa began, reaching into his Item Box to retrieve a deck of playing cards. “You set up a small stall, and take bets. The idea is to find some specific card outta three of ‘em. Usually the Queen of Spades, or the Ace of Spades, but it can be anythin’. Shufflin’s kinda weird with these fingers but lessee…” He made the cards dance in his hands, shifting from hand to the other and practically flying all around his fingers. The skill and dexterity was definitely professional level. “No, wait, I take it back, actually kinda easier. Guess it’s all that Dexterity. Anyway, so, three cards.” He dealt three out on the table in front of him, and then lifted the middle one, “And this one’s the target - Queen of Spades.” He showed it to everyone with the showmanship of a stage magician. “Someone places a bet, Dealer shuffles the three cards around, Player picks a card. If it’s the Queen, they win, if not, they lose. That’s the idea. The trick,” He said, flipping all three cards over with a flourish revealing nothing but Jacks to a small ‘Ooooh’ from a few of the others. Momonga had to admit, it was pretty impressive - he couldn’t even begin to wonder when he had managed to switch the Queen out, “Is that none of ‘em are the Queen at all. The Queen’s actually in my hand, see?” He showed them the card carefully cupped in a way that made it almost impossible to see unless he deliberately showed them - as he did now. “Which brings me to an explanation of Three Tomb Monte. The gist of this trick is gettin’ someone to pick a card - or in this case, a tomb - without ever realisin’ that there are no right options.”

“Fake Tombs… if we surround Nazarick with fakes, then it’s that much harder to find the real one,” Momonga murmured.

“Exactly!” Mekongawa cried, pointing at him triumphantly. “Now, there are problems with this Option as well. Firstly, it only really delays anyone from findin’ Nazarick - someone’s going to hit the right Tomb eventually. Now these three options are just mundane ones. Now, if we combine all three, maybe even make a few tombs per mound, then as a cover, it’s pretty good. However, I think our best option is to combine these three with Amano-san’s suggestion - we level the mound, and create a grouping of fake dungeons all around. With this kinda arrangement, to hide Nazarick goes from ‘Hide an entire Mound’ to ‘Hide a single entrance’.” The other Six digested his words for a few minutes before Momonga spoke up.

“A sound plan. All in favour?” All Seven chorused ‘Aye!’. “Then it is agreed. Now, onto surveying our surroundings. I believe the simplest and most efficient method would be for us each to use a 「Mirror of Remote Viewing」. Seven of us scanning the countryside are more likely to find something than just one of us, after all.” There were a series of nods, and everyone reached into their Item Boxes to retrieve the item. “If we’re all in agreement, then let’s begin.” Each of them activated the Mirrors, and began pawing at the view they were given. An awkward silence reigned over them briefly before Momonga chuckled. “We’ve all forgotten how to use them, haven’t we?”

“Ah, Momonga-dono, I believe it was like this… no… no it’s not… hm…”

“Ya just… swipe along don’t ya?”

“No, no, Mekongawa, you… okay, no you don’t do that.”

“I’ve got it! Here, it’s like this…”

“Ah! As expected of Bukubukuchagama-dono!” The mystery of how to operate the Mirrors solved (although some would argue it was hardly a mystery at all), they settled in to scan their surroundings.

 

* * *

 

“… It’s a village,” Amano murmured, panning the view a little bit so they could see more. They were all crowded around his mirror now, having been the first person to stumble on something even remotely interesting. The village, and it was undeniably one, looked like it was straight out of a fantasy setting, thatched roofs and little stone buildings. “Shouldn’t be that far out. Ten, twenty kilometres?”

“Easily within 「 **Portal** 」 range,” Peroroncino said, leaning closer. “If we want to take a quick look, it’d…” He trailed off, squinting at something. “Amano-san, can you zoom in?”

The Dragonblooded gestured with a hand, the viewport zoomed in hastily. The people, who had originally appeared in a size similar to ants, approached a much more easily recognizable size. Humans, all of them at a glance, but what really got their attention was what they were doing.

“A raid?” Brandish said quietly. There were armoured figures, some on horseback, some on foot, running around with weapons drawn, burning buildings and chasing people who definitely did not look like armed combatants. Silently, they all watched as a man was impaled on a spear. Momonga knew he should’ve felt something at that, but nothing arose within him. Just… cold curiousity, a vague sense of wanting to know what was happening and why without any real concern for the people involved..

“We need to help them!” Bukubukuchagama declared, a streak of anger in her usual bubbly voice.

Enshento shook his head. “No. We don’t know enough of the situation,” He said, ignoring Bukubukuchagama’s protests, “We don’t know what’s going on. We don’t know why it’s happening. We don’t even know the strength of the people involved.”

“People are dying! Innocent people!” She retorted, turning around to face the stone-faced Angel. Everyone else took a step back, sensing a confrontation between Ainz Ooal Gown’s two remaining tacticians and strategists. “We can’t just stand by and let them die!”

“It’s too risky,” Enshento countered, wings reforming into what looked like an array of sharp blades emerging from his back, a multitude of narrowed eyes forming and dissolving in the light. “I understand your position and your desire, Bukubukuchagama, and I respect it. The idea of letting people die is something I hate to do.”

“Then save them! We have that power!” She seethed, bubbling angrily as tendrils started to extrude themselves from her form. They weren’t going to fight were they?

“Do we?” He said coldly, face carefully neutral, “We don’t know that for sure. We know nothing except people who look like villagers are being killed, Bukubukuchagama, by people who look like soldiers. Soldiers, Chagama. Someone ordered those soldiers to do this, and if we interfere, regardless of how successful we are, the only thing that I know for sure will happen is that people will start paying attention to us. We do not know enough about the world to know if we are ready for that! What happens if an army comes to Nazarick? Can we fight off ten thousand soldiers? Twenty thousand? Thirty?”

A tense stand off ensued, Bukubukuchagama bubbling and seething but otherwise restrained, as Enshento Wan continued to just stare neutrally at her.  Momonga felt like he should say or do something but he couldn’t bring himself to make a decision.

“Make a 「 **Portal** 」.” Amano’s voice was the last thing anyone was expecting to hear, but it was full of such steel and determination. “Make a 「 **Portal** 」, Enshento, Momonga. They’re killing children.” Whilst the others had been watching the argument, Amano had continued watching. When they didn’t immediately act, he narrowed his eyes. “Make a 「 **Portal** 」 now.”

Wordlessly, Momonga raised his hand to cast the spell, unsure if he had ever heard Amano angry, if this was even him angry.

“Wait!” Enshento shouted. To his credit, he didn’t even flinch when Amano turned a furious gaze to him, daring him to object to this course of action. “We don’t have our equipment. If we’re going to save them, then we’re going to do it as best we can. I will accept nothing less.” His wings shattered, turning back into their usual state of six feathery wings of light. “I understand time is of the essence, but I cannot abide by an unnecessary risk to us. Please understand my concern.”

Amano growled. “We don’t have time,” He said, voice close to a snarl of anger - but he seemed to at least be hearing Enshento out.

“I understand. Mekongawa, Bukubukuchagama. Out of all us, you're the most capable of surviving if this is a worst-case scenario. Take on human forms, and go. We’ll remain in contact with 「 **Message** 」.” Enshento nodded at Momonga, who was still halfway through casting the spell, and he finished it, opening up the rift through space as Mekongawa gave a lazy salute.

“Aye captain!” He said, following Bukubukuchagama through.

“Be serious!” Enshento called after him, letting out a sigh as he passed through with a dismissive wave. Then it was back to business. “Peroroncino, Brandish, Momonga we’ll retrieve everyone’s equipment from the Treasury and deliver it to them as quickly as we can. Amanomahitotsu, remain on stand by here and command the NPCs as appropriate.” He paused. “… and I apologise if I seemed cold and unconcerned.”

The Dragonblooded shook his head. “You were not wrong to say what you did. Hurry now,” He said softly, turning his attention back to his mirror.

“Right. Let’s get moving.”

 

* * *

 

Enri Emmot had not thought about Death. Death was something far away to a young girl such as herself, something she would only have to worry about regarding her older relatives. Death did not come for young women such as her, she had thought, but then, Death was not something that concerned itself with what young girls thought it should or would do. Death did what Death wished, came for who it wanted, and left those it did not. Death did all of these things without concern for anyone or anything, for it was Death.

Death came for Enri Emmot this day.

It came for her entire village. It came for her mother and her father. It came for Hendrick, the kindly old baker and Tystil, the sullen faced boy who held a mutual dislike for her. Death came as knights and soldiers, it came with swords and spears and banners. But as she ran desperately for the outskirts of the village, hoping beyond hope to reach the forest where she might have the tiniest modicum of safety, she only had one thought.

Death would not come for her sister, Nemu Emmot, this day.

Nemu collapsed next to her, whining in pain as her leg started to cramp up. That was fine, Enri would just have to carry her, but the clanking noise of armor was right beside her. Fear gripped her heart as she slowly turned around to see the knight with a bloody sword poised to strike them both down.

“Don’t struggle unnecessarily,” He snarled, bringing the blade down.

“Don’t look down on people!” Enri shouted, swinging at his helmeted head with all her might.

“GUH!” The blow rang out along her arm, and she could feel her bones fracture with it, but rather than scream in pain, she only turned to grab Nemu’s hand and continue running. “YOU BITCH!” snarled the Knight, swiping at her with his sword.

She screamed as it split open her back, causing her to topple forward with the unexpected agony. The Knight was swinging wildly with pure rage now, the very fact that a simple village girl had struck back at him like this enough to drive him into a maddened fury. At this moment, Enri understood that they were going to die. This was the fate of the weak when faced with the strong. There was nothing she could do, as a simple village girl, against an armored knight. She braced herself for the end, holding her sister tightly. The next blow would be the last.

But Death did not come for Enri and Nemu Emmot this day.

Instead of flesh, the sword met solid adamantite instead, clashing against a heater shield held by of the most elegant looking woman Enri had ever seen. Somehow, despite being clad in an entire suit of plate mail, the woman exuded a confident air of grace and elegance mixed with unbridled power.

“What?! Who the fuck are you?!” The Knight roared, taking a step back to reassess the situation.

But the woman didn’t even bother glancing in his direction. “Are you okay?” She asked Enri, shifting a little bit to better look at them, long silken hair swaying slightly with the movement.

‘ _S-so cool…_ ’ More than anything in the world, Enri realised that this was exactly the kind of person she wanted to be. Graceful. Elegant. Strong.

“Goodness, you’re hurt! Here, I have a potion.” She reached into thin air, her hand disappearing up to the wrist before she pulled out a clear crystal bottle filled with a rich vibrant red liquid. Enri could only gape in awe of the angel, for what else could she be to arrive in so timely a manner to save her life? Her flowing dark hair, her beautiful face, her reassuring smile - these were the features that could only belong to an angel.

Silently, she accepted the potion with shaky hands.

The Knight, furious at being ignored charged forward, sword poised to impale Enri’s saviour. Without even shifting her expression in the tiniest, she twisted her arm around in an instant, blocking the sword effortlessly with the shield. Despite the fact that her face hadn’t changed at all, Enri could feel the raw fury pouring off of her in waves, a righteous fury that held within it the capability of annihilating entire worlds. “Mekongawa-kun,” She said sweetly. There was a beat of silence, this strange tense air as though the world and it’s inhabitants all held their breath in unison but for what, Enri couldn’t say. She only knew that something was going to happen.

Then the Knight’s leg exploded at the knee in a shower of blood. The Saviour shifted herself to block their view of the violence, but she had already glimpsed the sight and could hear the strangled scream of pain.

“Huh. Didn’t mean to hit ‘em that hard,” spoke a rough sort of voice that made Enri think of the local woodsman, Razven, cool and playful but with a hint of something dangerous lurking. Enri could only get a glimpse of dark red hair, and what looked like leather and fur. “Sorry, I guess? Only meant to break a leg, not kick it clean off. Although, I don’t really mean the sorry at all.”

“M-monster!” The Knight screamed, and there was terror in his voice now.

Her Angel shifted, and Enri got a glimpse of a fluffy, dark red ear twitching slightly. A beastman? She’d heard of them. They were supposed to be much stronger than the average human as well.

“Monster? I guess we kinda are, aren’t we, Chagama?” So the name of her Angel was Chagama…

“I suppose we are,” She said, turning her head to address ‘Mekongawa’. They seemed to exchange something in their looks, because Mekongawa grabbed the fallen Knight by the collar of his armour and started to drag him along somewhere.

“Come on. Let’s go talk a little walk to somewhere the kids can’t see.” The Knight began to say something in panicked splutters, but there was the briefest clank of armour and they were gone. Chagama smiled beatifically at Enri.

“You haven’t drunk your potion yet,” She said calmly, and Enri let out a squeak. She’d been so enamored she’d completely forgotten about her pain entirely. She uncorked the flask, and started to drink. The effect was both immediate and incredible. A soothing warmth rushed through her entire being and washed away all the soreness and pain. She felt like she’d been reborn.

Chagama seemed to relax several degrees now that Enri had drank the potion, standing straight and moving her shield out of the way.

The only remaining sign of the Knight was a pool of blood, soaking into the ground and drying even as Enri watched it. How strong was Mekongawa that he could do that to the leg of a man in full armour without even intending to?

As if to answer that very thought, he reappeared in a silent instant. He was tall, but not as… broad as Enri expected. He had the proportions of a plank of wood that someone had attached arms and legs to, all wiry with whipcord muscle. He had a similar, confident air to Chagama, but the grace with which he moved was almost sarcastic in it’s elegance, and although she had never met him before, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was subtly mocking… someone. Or something. Maybe the very concept of elegance? Just looking at him gave her the vibe that he was the kind of person to do that that sort of thing. Where Chagama was clad in pristine plate, he was wearing a leather jerkin made out of the hide of a reptile or beast that Enri could only imagine with it’s bright red scales, but the white fur vest he wore over it was splattered with red, as a reminder of what he had done - and what he could do.

“Well, he’s sorted now,” He said casually, dusting his hands off. He gave Enri a brief but bright smile, showing off rows of sharp teeth, before turning his attention back to Chagama. “Looks like Enshento had nothin’ to worry ‘bout.”

Chagama gave him a strange look, but raised her shield. “Sorry we’re a little late - but it’s okay now. We’ll save everyone.”

Enri was used to adults saying similar things. The words ‘It will be okay’ were like an heirloom lie, passed down from generation to generation in tough times, carried with a confidence that nobody could truly have. Hearing Chagama say it was different.

Hearing her say those words, Enri knew they were the truth.

 

* * *

 

Flying in Yggdrasil had always been a pleasure of Peroroncino’s. It was hard not to feel a rush when you soared in the sky, just the sight and knowledge alone had made him addicted. He dared anyone who could fly not to enjoy the feeling. But now? Now actually experiencing it, truly and fully was beyond words. The wind rushed through his feathers, as he twirled through the sky, laughing uproariously. This was, perhaps, the best thing that had ever happened to him. “ _Peroroncino-kun, concentrate please._ ” Enshento’s voice cut through his mind, a hint of amusement, a dash of exasperation but otherwise formal and business-like. Right. The Village. The Raid. The Saving. He spun around in the air, scanning the village. Ordinarily, Peroroncino could not see that far - in life, he was quite shortsighted actually. But as a Winged Lord? His gaze wasn’t merely ‘hawk-like’. It was, quite literally, that of a hawk’s.

“ _I have eyes on the Village,_ ” He replied, equipping his beloved weapon, 「 **Houyi’s Bow** 」. Rather than arrows, it fired concentrated beams of sunlight. Not only was it a convenient way to bypass Shooting-type resistances, it was a type of damage that had the lowest rate of resistance amongst players and monsters alike in Yggdrasil. It was the little things that pushed a weapon from ‘Great’ to ‘Amazing’.

“ _Excellent. Transferring you to Bukubukuchagama-chan._ ” There was a brief beep. It had been decided to split the six of them into two squads for this. Jokingly called the Organic Squad, led by Bukubukuchagama, was Mekongawa and Peroroncino, fulfilling a basic Defense-Offense-Support trifecta respectively (although the only thing that really made Peroroncino the Support in this situation was his extreme range). Similarly, currently held in reserve was Inorganic Squad, led by Enshento Wan with Brandish and Momonga as Support-Defense-Offense, although Momonga’s breadth of magic was so versatile, that he could easily be his own Squad were it not for the basic doctrine requiring at least one other person. Amano was capable of fulfilling the Support role in a pinch, but given his general nature and build, it was considered a last resort for the most part.

“ _Oi! Sis! I’m in position and ready!_ ”

“ _If you’re ready dumbass, then start shooting! Prioritise saving villagers!_ ”

He grumbled a little at her tone, knowing she would’ve berated him if he didn’t report in before shooting. “Oh well,” He muttered, gathering sunlight for the first barrage, “You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family.” His eyes narrowed, and he took a deep breath, activating a skill. “「 **Rapid Firing** 」!”

「 **Rapid Firing** 」 was a basic skill known by most ranged classes in Yggdrasil, but it retained it’s usefulness simply because it scaled with your level. As one grew stronger and specialised further in ranged attacks, it was possible to make 「 **Rapid Firing** 」 even faster, although even without that scaling factor, a skill that simply increased the speed with which you attacked would always have a use. For a max level player that had specifically specialised in not only range but speed as well? The speed with which Peroroncino could loose his arrows made the amount of arrows he could output in an instant was almost as much as he could achieve using some of his skills. Following Bukubukuchagama’s orders, he focused his efforts on targets that were just about to kill a villager, but the speed with which he could attack meant that it was sort of a moot point. The time between seeing a target and shooting it was so miniscule, that he may as well have just fired at everyone he could see. It’s not as though anybody would even be able to tell the difference.

Something about the sight of a village being raided by armoured knights twisted his stomach though. He could see some knights ordering others around, others holding banners and emblems. They were an organised force, not some ramshackle bandits or raiders, and they were taking no prisoners. Was this the kind of world they’d entered? One where innocent people lived in fear of death? Maybe it was naive of him, but he steeled his heart and hardened his gaze, silently swearing to himself that if this is what the world was like, then they’d just have to change it. Peroroncino would change it, alone if he had to. One arrow at a time, if that was what it takes.

“… Man, I sound like Brandish.”

 

* * *

 

Monsters. They were under attack from monsters. Two demons in the Village - a beastman who moved with the speed of lightning and struck with the force of a thousand thunderbolts, and the woman in armor, wielding shields of all things. If the beastman was a bolt of lightning, striking and disappearing with only the said of pain, she was a thunderous avalanche, advancing slowly but surely and there was no escape for any who got in her path. But then, there was no escape for them either, was there? Some of those who had tried to flee were struck down by bursts of light from the sky, some unseen attacker raining death from above, and now… now they had managed to flee into the forest, but instead of safety, there was only yet another demon waiting for them.

The Black Knight that barred their path hefted his tower shield and lance once again, striking a pose. The Shield, a towering thing of black metal, had the face of a snarling demon on the front, modeled in exquisite detail. The Lance seemed out of place in comparison, with it’s elegance and beauty. The guard resembled the open petals of a flower, white in the center and spreading out to a rich shade of purple, a shade echoed along the main body of the lance, which, keeping in with the flower-theme, seemed like an elongated stamen, light purple-pink streaks running through it. Sergeant Marte Dal Faron sank to his knees, deprived of all hope in the face of an enemy that could not be defeated by mortal hands. “Don’t just stand there! Fight it!” The Liuetenant shouted, but even his fear was obvious to any who could hear him.

“Fight?” The Demon crowed, “You would still fight? How noble! How brave! How FOOLISH! 「 **Lance Vault** 」!” And then he was in the air, high above them, Lance cocked back almost like he intended to hurl it at them. “Bear witness to true despair! 「 **Spring Amaryllis** 」!” His voice rang out, true and clear, and Marte knew that it was the ringing of a funeral bell. He watched as the Lieutenant fell to the ground, a hole the size of a child’s fist punched straight through his chest. And then another fell, and another. What terrified Marte the most was that the speed. Driven by fear and adrenaline, his vision had sharpened enough that he could just barely follow the Lance’s movements, even though he had no hope of matching it in any meaningful way. The Demon thrust his weapon forward and the Lance extended to strike it’s target, before it then retracted. The whole process took less than a second, and it was with utmost horror that he realised that it was happening too fast for blood to even stain the weapon. Before even a single drop could flow, the Lance had already retracted, ready to strike another. It was hopeless from the very beginning. He’d known it. They had as much chance of defeating this monster then they did of stopping the rain from falling.

When the Demon landed back on the ground on the other side of them, he almost didn’t realise he was still alive. He glanced around with a sense of quiet wonder, and he realised he wasn’t alone in his surprise. A handful of others had also been spared, but it took a few moments for him to realise why. They had all fallen to the ground, overwhelmed by fear. None of them were even holding their weapons. “We… were spared?” The Demon turned around, pointing a finger at the speaker.

“Do not misunderstand this magnificent Brrrrrrrrrandish-sama!” He posed again in a manner that any of his allies would recognise as ‘Sentai’, but to the soldiers, merely looked like some strange mannerism. His knees bent, his right arm outstretched at an angle, the left bent at the elbow to point in the same direction with the hand near his head. If anyone thought it was ridiculous, they certainly didn’t have the guts to tell him. “That you were spared is simply because crushing your worthless lives was beneath my majestic self!” He changed poses again, legs straight and his back arched, left arm bending back behind his head only to grab onto the left side of his face and his right hand pointing directly at them. “Would you crush an ant simply for existing? No! Flies that bother a giant must be swatted, but those that know their place may continue to exist! Heed these wise words and you may yet continue to survive in the presence of the Great,” Pose, “and Mighty,” Pose, “BRRRRRRRRRRRRANDISH-SAMA!” The silent sense that their lives were in the hands of a crazed demon was something that the soldiers could not shake.

“ **BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!** ”

 

* * *

 

Momonga reached up to scratch a bony cheekbone with his finger, more out of habit than any actual physical need. “Is that Brandish-san?” He muttered as the faintest sound of diabolical laughter reached his… skull? He didn’t have ears. “It certainly sounds like him. I’m glad to know he’s having fun.” He glanced around at his own area, at the fallen bodies of the dead that had piled up around him. As a master of Necromancy specialising in Instant Death effects, their deaths had been swift. Painless he was less sure of, but any pain that they had felt was surely over in seconds so perhaps that made it all okay. He calmly stepped through the mass towards the single survivor. The others had all attacked relentlessly the moment he had used his favourite spell, 「Grasp Heart」, on their commanding officer. It had felt somewhat refreshing to engage in combat for some reason - but then, perhaps it was that all magic felt refreshing to cast. The Survivor trembled in raw terror, unable to muster up even the weakest of sounds. He almost seemed like he was frothing at the mouth until Momonga was within a few feet and then…

“Oh?” Momonga murmured, watching curiously as the soldier began to convulse, foam forming at his mouth before he went slack. “… Ah. My 「Despair Aura」.” He’d forgotten that was active… but to cause Instant Death like that required an enemy significantly weaker than Momonga. Then again, could any of these enemies be called a threat to him? “I thought for sure that soldiers would be of a level higher than this… perhaps there are such things as Heroes here as well?” A thought for later, perhaps. The question now was what to do with all these bodies?

“Hmm. I wonder how Necromancy works here…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter sort of continues the theme of expanding and demonstrating the abilities and specialisations of the other members, but it's main purpose is to set the tone for how Ainz Ooal Gown intends to present itself as we transition from the 'What a Strange New World!' honeymoon phase into realising that the world around them is... well, it's not exactly _nice_ , and they all react to that in different ways.
> 
> It's also an excuse for Brandish to pose. I'll be honest with you, he's probably the most self indulgent part of this story because writing him is always fun.


	5. Evil Is In The Eye Of The Beholder (And Also Energy Rays, Or So I'm Told)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Re-Estize Kingdom's greatest warrior arrives too late to make a difference. Momonga's off-handed choice arrives at the doors of Nazarick. Ainz Ooal Gown arrives at a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I mentioned in a reply to a comment earlier, my writing has slowed down a bit because I recently started a course! It's quite tiring, and also eats up a lot of my time. The first few weeks I was literally so exhausted that when I got home I just went straight to bed.
> 
> Now that I've adjusted, I've gotten back into writing regularly. So hopefully we won't see any more hiccups!
> 
> This chapter is all about perceptions and views.

Gazef Stronoff was expecting many different things when he eventually arrived at Carne Village. Destruction. Death. Perhaps, Gods willing, they would arrive in time to stop it. More likely, they would’ve arrived either after or during. But never, in a thousand lifetimes, would he have expected this result. Carne Village seemed to have taken some damage, but it was clearly still standing, and even here, he could still see the villagers milling about. That was surprising on it’s own, but any relief Gazef felt at their survival was quashed by the fact that somehow, he had ended up being accosted halfway along the road to the Village by a Beastman of all things.

“That’s far enough,” The man called, arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t have an appearance that spoke of strength, but Gazef knew better - despite the Beastman’s wiry physique, he didn’t doubt that he was ten times as strong as most of his soldiers. Physically, at least. Strength wasn’t all power though - he had become Re-Estize Kingdom’s greatest knight not through strength, but skill after all.

Gazef held a hand out to halt his soldiers, studying the Beastman a bit before moving to take a step forward. The reaction was instantaneous, but it wasn’t from the beastman as Gazef had expected. A bolt of bright light shot from the sky, bursting just in front of his foot with enough force to leave a small crater. Startled by the shot, it took a moment for Gazef to realise he’d taken his eyes off the Beastman - and then he felt a claw gently poking against his windpipe.

Gazef remained steadfast even as he heard his soldiers cry out in startled voices, metal rattling as some moved to draw their weapons. “I didn’t stutter, did I?” The Beastman said in a casual drawl, not even bothered that in this instant Gazef himself had drawn his own sword and had the edge placed right up against the Beastman’s neck. 「 **Counter Stance** 」, a martial arts technique he had learned, perfect for standoffs just like this. If he hadn’t taken his eyes off the Beastman, he might’ve even been able to position himself first.

“You did not,” He said calmly, “We were merely confused as to who would be so bold as to stand in the path of the Re-Estize Kingdom’s knights within the borders of their very kingdom.” Part of being a powerful warrior was knowing and understanding your limits, and assessing those limits in others. After fighting hundreds of battles, Gazef had developed a finely honed sense of a fighter’s power, or so he had believed.

“My apologies then. It was only that I did not know who you were that I stopped you,” The Beastman said lightly, claw still in place.

Everything about him made Gazef worried, not because he seemed powerful. It was that the Beastman did not seem powerful at all that worried him. He did not seem like anything. To Gazef’s experienced and honed sense, the Beastman may as well have just been a part of the scenery. A tree, a rock. Not a person. Some strange part of his mind kept trying to ignore his presence as unimportant, and that just made him seem all the more dangerous. Not a single instinct in Gazef’s mind told him to worry but every rational thought he could muster only told him that anyone who could move that fast had to be dangerous. For the first time in a while, Gazef had no idea how powerful an opponent was. He had met people stronger than him before - powerful adventurers, true heroic figures. But this was different.

This was terrifyingly blank.

“Might I know your name?” Gazef asked, not sure if he should be pushing forward or pulling back. He thought of pulling back, a cautious action without knowing what to do next, but he had a duty to the village. If the Beastman and his unknown sharpshooter were an enemy to the Kingdom, than he had no other choice.

“It’s rude to ask for a name without giving your own,” The Beastman replied simply, giving him a lazy smile. The casual, disaffected air… was it an act? Or did he assess Gazef’s strength and found him weaker? Was it overconfidence or was he just outmatched?

“Gazef Stronoff, Warrior Captain of the Re-Estize Kingdom.” There was silence. “Are you not going to tell me yours?”

“When did I say I was going to do that?” Now the Beastman was playing with him. He felt a twinge of annoyance, but it was quashed by his unease.

“Would it not be rude of you to withhold your name now?” The Beastman bared his teeth - surprisingly normal looking. He had expected something more… feral. Sharp. It was not to say that they weren't sharp, just... not as sharp as he'd imagined.

“I’m not a very polite person.” Gazef felt another twinge of annoyance ripple through him, but before he could respond, the Beastman withdrew his threatening claw, and adopted a lazy stance, taking a step back with his hands folded behind his head and his elbows pointed up. “Ya’ll are free to pass.”

The shift in atmosphere almost made Gazef do a double take. Almost. “… Just like that?” He said, warily eyeing the Beastman who shrugged in response.

“I don’t make the orders, Sir Knightly, I just follow ‘em. Speakin’ of followin’, my orders are to escort ya’ll to see our illustrious leader.” He gave them all a lazy grin that didn’t seem all that lazy. “Please keep yer hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times, ‘cause if ya put one finger outta place, ya gonna lose it.” With his warning delivered, the Beastman turned around and began lazily walking toward Carne Village, leaving Gazef to wonder what he had stepped into. He glanced back at his men, letting out a small sigh before steeling himself and following.

 

* * *

 

“You seem popular,” Bukubukuchagama teased, arms folded over her armored chest as she watched Enshento disentangle himself from a group of children. He wasn’t that much taller than them, having chosen a form that could almost be described as ‘cherubic’ back at character creation deliberately for the dissonance. It was backfiring now, as the children seemed to view him as the most approachable and clearly the most open to playing with them of the ‘Heroes’. It felt weird being called that, given that they had spent their entire times in Yggdrasil being the ‘Villains’. More then that, Bukubukuchagama was, until now, an ordinary person. Well, ordinary-ish. Being an Eroge Voice Actor wasn’t very ordinary.

Enshento could only give her a withering look as he, very gently, tried to get the children to leave him alone. They didn’t seem to want to, but after a grudging promise to play with them later, they finally freed him from their grasp with a chorus of triumph. Children 1, Level 100 Magic Caster 0.

He dusted himself off and adjusted his chiton in a way that made her think of a preening bird. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Bubbles,” He grumbled, adjusting his hair. Such a vain little Angel. He settled down, his almost playful grumpiness fading away to a more serious air. “… Do we have a number yet?”

Although he didn’t specify what for, she seemed to understand him immediately and she nodded. “Brandish took a count. It’s… bad,” She admitted, looking down at the ground. “On your end?”

“Pretty bad,” He said softly, stretching his shoulders in a way that told her that if his wings were present, they’d be unfurling. “Nothing I couldn’t handle, naturally, but… well,” He shrugged lightly.

Of course, what they were referring to were casualties. In the attack on Carne Village, even if Ainz Ooal Gown had set off as soon as they were aware of the attack, it would’ve been too late to save everyone regardless. With Enshento Wan present, it could be considered a ‘Best Case Scenario’ for Carne Village - anyone who was not outright dead could easily be restored to full health.

“You must be pretty popular with everyone then,” She said, and he rolled his eyes.

“Quite popular, yes. I’ve had at least one person offer me anything I wanted in gratitude.” He watched her for a minute, studying her face. “You look like you have something you want to say.”

She blinked, looking a little sheepish at being read so accurately. “Was it that obvious?” She said, scratching the back of her still-quite human head.

“If you know where to look,” was his simple response. “What’s got your tongue so tied up?”

She paused, taking a moment to think it over. She glanced left and right, looking at their surroundings before deciding that it was best to be safe and just resorted to 「 **Message** 」.

“ _It’s… well, it’s weird having everyone call us heroes and things right?_ ” Enshento shrugged, both mentally and physically.

“ _Well, we did save them all from certain death._ ”

“ _Shush, not like that,_ ” She responded, rolling her eyes a little and giving him a mental shove. “ _I meant more like… well, we’re monsters. They’d freak out if they saw what we really looked like. I mean, Momonga and Brandish are Undead. Surely they’d panic at that if not me or you?_ ”

The Angel hummed thoughtfully, his lilting voice sounding more like a choir of hums than a single voice. “ _Well, I’m an Angel. I think people usually like those,_ ” He ‘said’, leaning out of the way of her retaliatory strike. “ _But in all seriousness, I get what you mean. It’s hard to believe that they’d still be so eager to thank us if you were bubbling and oozing._ ” He paused. “ _Or if they realised that Brandish has been making puns for at least an hour._ ” They shared a silent chuckle, but the serious air wasn’t completely dispelled.

“ _Aren’t you guys overthinking it?_ ”

They jumped visibly as Peroroncino’s voice cut through their thoughts, Enshento reflexively glancing up to where the Winged Lord was still surveying them far out of human sight. “ _Peroro-kun… I didn’t realise you were in this channel._ ”

“ _I’ve been here the entire time, Enshento. I’m not super sure what sparked this whole conversation, but I’ma stand by my point; aren’t you overthinking it?_ ”

The Angel tilted his head to the side, glancing over at Bukubukuchagama.

“ _Overthinking it how?_ ” She responded, returning Enshento’s glance.

“ _We’re Ainz Ooal Motherfucking Gown. Don’t get me wrong, it’d be nice to be admired, but since when have we ever cared what people thought of us_?” They were silent for a few moments before they started laughing softly. “ _What? That wasn’t a joke._ ”

“ _No, it was just… you’re right. It just seemed so silly when you put it like that,_ ” Enshento admitted, rolling his shoulders again.

“ _We probably shouldn’t just drop the disguises yet though. At least, not until asking everyone else though._ ” There was a chorus of mental agreement, before Enshento glanced down at himself and sighed.

“ _Well, I should probably go play with those children now,_ ” He grumbled, beginning to head off in the direction he last saw them.

 _“Wait? Play with kids? What’d I miss?_ ” Enshento closed the 「 **Message** 」 spell in response, causing Bukubukuchagama to start laughing uncontrollably. “ _Hang up all you want Enshento, I can still see you perfectly fine!_ ”

“ _He can’t hear you, little brother._ ”

 

* * *

 

Amanomahitotsu-sama was majestic. Yuri Alpha was sure not a single soul in all of existence could argue against that point. Everything about Amanomahitotsu-sama the World Shaper oozed majesty. Tall, with a bearing that could only be described as regal. His voice, his poise, every movement he made was Royal. It was no surprise to her then, that the Forty One Homonculus Maids of Nazarick were basically falling over themselves to serve him. Pestonya, the Head Maid, had put her foot down and limited the amount that could personally attend to him at any one time to two different maids. The fortunate ones (for now) were Lumière and Foire, who had taken to the duty with enviable enthusiasm, although personally serving Amanomahitotsu-sama required very little for the most part. He was not one that made many requests, and for now, they were merely watching him as he observed the other Supreme Beings through the 「 **Mirror of Remote Viewing** 」, and occasionally bringing him something to drink (Chamomile tea, with one sugar and cream) or eat (Ginger Snaps). She had been watching him for an hour or two now, and she knew what the other Supreme Beings were doing - she just didn’t know why. And after all this watching and waiting, ostensibly to defend him (although she personally felt that anything that could threaten a Supreme Being could easily destroy her - which wouldn’t stop her from laying her life down to give them even one more moment to prepare), she had finally worked up the courage to give a voice to her thoughts.

“Amanomahitotsu-sama,” She began quietly, almost afraid he would berate her for speaking. He didn’t though, turning his gaze from the viewport slowly, with a… look on his face. She couldn’t quite tell what kind of look. It was hard to read his face, as it wasn’t a very emotive face. It was at least more emotive than Momonga-sama’s skull, but she could hardly fault the Supreme Beings for their own physicality. “I…” She trailed off under the weight of his gaze. With his full attention on her, she felt small. It felt like he could unmake her with a thought - and with the intensity of his stare, it almost seemed like he was contemplating it.

“… Yes, Yuri-chan?” His voice was soft, but commanding. It sent shivers down her spine, and she willed herself not to tremble. His was a voice that was soft and quiet, but she could hear the steel in every letter, the presence it carried that even the other Supreme Beings could not ignore. “Did you have something to say?” She swallowed and tried to find her courage again. Was he judging her? Would she be punished?

“Amanomahitotsu-sama, I… I don’t want to question the decisions of the Supreme Beings, but why are you going so far out of your way to save a village of humans? Are they not unlike ants before you, insignificant and beyond concern?” Ultimately, only the fact that the question would eat at her for years if she never got an answer was what propelled her to speak her mind.

Amanomahitotsu stared silently, and for a long minute, she wondered if he really would destroy her. Then he turned his gaze back to the viewport and reached for another one of Foire’s ginger snaps.

“… I like ants,” was all he said on the matter, biting into the biscuit with an audible ‘Snap!’.

Yuri Alpha could only blink in response, before lowering her head. “Of course. I apologise for questioning you, Amanomahitotsu-sama.” A regal answer. What else could she have expected? What reason did he, Amanomahitotsu the World Shaper, need beyond that he wanted to?

The next few minutes passed by uneventfully, until there was a knock at the door. Yuri, ever dutiful, strode over to open the door a crack to see who had dared to bother Amanomahitotsu, and came face to face with CZ2128 Delta. “CZ?” She said quietly, surprised to see her, “What is it?”

“A situation requires Amanomahitotsu-sama’s attention,” said the Automaton in her perfectly flat tone.

“Situation? What kind of situation?” Yuri risked a glance back at Amanomahitotsu, who seemed to be content to leave her to sort the situation out for now, having returned to gazing into his viewport and eating a Ginger Snap. “Amanomahitotsu-sama is not to be disturbed.”

“A contingent of Undead have arrived at the gates of Nazarick. They claim to have been sent by Momonga-sama.” That was… definitely a situation.

And also probably over her head, although she loathed to have to bother the Supreme Being about it. She didn’t have much of a choice though, and so she took a deep breath and stepped aside.

CZ2128 Delta stepped through, perfectly straight as Amano looked up again, this time at her. If she felt even the tiniest weight from his gaze, she didn’t show it. “Amanomahitotsu-sama. Apologies for disturbing you.”

“It’s no trouble,” He said smoothly, reaching for another biscuit. The plate was empty, but Foire was quick to swap the empty plate with a full one before Amano’s clawed hand reached it. Yuri made a mental note to recommend her for preferential duties later as Amano picked up another biscuit, none the wiser (as far as she could tell) about what Foire had done. “What did you have to report?”

“A contingent of Undead have arrived at the gates of Nazarick, claiming to have been sent by Momonga.” The biscuit stopped halfway in it’s journey to Amano’s maw, and the faintest tendril of smoke drifted out of his open mouth.

“… I apologise Delta-chan. I fear I misheard you. Please repeat that?”

“Of course, Amanomahitotsu-sama. A contingent of Undead have arrived at the gates of Nazarick, claiming to have been sent by Momonga,” She repeated, her exact words echoed perfectly, all in that perfectly flat tone.

Amanomahitotsu stared at her for a moment, then he glanced down at his biscuit before letting out a sigh and lowering it. Only CZ2128 Delta, with her cybernetically enhanced senses, could hear the words that came out of his mouth next, quieter then even his usual speaking voice.

“… Momonga why.”

 

* * *

 

The walk through the village had been surprisingly informative to Gazef. His nameless escort had been identified as ‘Mekongawa-sama’ by some of the villagers, and he was hailed as a hero - as were the other members of his group. The Village was in quite a good state all things considered - whoever these strangers were, they clearly had enough time to save the majority of the village, which he was thankful for. By the time he would’ve arrived, there would probably be nothing left. There was something bothering him though, and the more he looked around, the more it became apparent to him.

“Where are the wounded?” He asked, causing some of his soldiers to stir. Nobody they had passed had been wounded at all - everyone seemed in perfect health. It was… odd.

“Don’t get ya panties in a twist,” Mekongawa said cheerfully, waving to an old lady, “They’ve been healed.” Gazef blinked in surprise.

“… Healed?” He echoed, unsure of how to respond. It did explain why nobody seemed even scratched…

“Yeah. With magic.” Mekongawa’s gaze was almost inquisitive, searching. What for, Gazef wasn’t sure, but if he had to guess, he wanted to see how he was reacting to this information. He couldn’t say what reaction he was looking for specifically, if any. It was useful information in it’s own way. They had a Healer - or, more likely, Healers. Healing an entire village had to have been tiring, and wasn’t the kind of thing a single person could manage. Well… a single normal person. Nothing about ‘Mekongawa’ seemed normal, and there was likely nothing normal about the mysterious sharpshooting caster. He shouldn’t be surprised if the others weren’t much different.

The people seemed… not happy, but almost determined. They were going about their days as best they could; some of them were repairing damaged buildings, others were talking to friends and family. The mood was somber, but there was an underlying sense of determination, a sentiment of resistance. It was admirable in it’s own way. Soon though, they arrived at a relatively modest house and Mekongawa walked up to the door. “I’m comin’ in!” He called out brazenly, throwing the door open with a careless gesture.

Seated at the table were three figures - two Gazef pegged as residents of the village, one an elderly looking man and the other a surprisingly young girl. The third was clearly one of the mysterious strangers, based on his clothing alone. Gazef was not a particularly astute appraiser, but even he could tell that an academic gown in that kind of silk and decorated with those kinds of jewels was something that had to be absurdly expensive. A Magic Caster - was he the one that fired the warning shot? He couldn’t tell. One thought was running through his head though. ‘We cannot win against him.’

“Ah. You must be Gazef Stronoff-kun. Please. Take a seat,” The Caster said, gesturing gently at the seat on the other side of the table of him.

Mekongawa casually strolled around to take a position behind him, arms folded over his chest with a casual grin on his face.

Gazef glanced at his men, ensuring they were all calm and ready, before taking a seat at the table.

“I am Momonga, of Ainz Ooal Gown. You have already met Mekongawa-san, but allow me to introduce the current Village Elder, Graniel Thendry-san, and the current Village Chief, Enri Emmot-san. We were just discussing terms of recompensation as well as the prisoners.”

Gazef wasn’t sure what to make of the appellations to their names - it sounded like a sort of regional thing. They were very likely foreigners then. “Recompensation?” He said carefully, glancing between the Elder and the surprisingly young Chief. It was possible the previous Chief had died recently then - possibly even in this attack.

“Of course. Whilst we of Ainz Ooal Gown acted of our own accord, it is only natural to expect something in return.”

Gazef found himself gripping the edge of the table. His assessment of ‘Momonga’ echoed in his mind and he forced himself not to react. If they wanted to take anything, or even everything from the Village, he didn’t think he could even manage to slow them down. “Although, that said, I believe you will be able to provide what we seek in a capacity far greater than the Village.”

“And,” He said slowly, glancing back at the Elder and Chief. They didn’t seem… worried. Or disturbed. Perhaps it wasn’t that bad? “What was it you sought in return for your service?” Momonga spread his gloved hands on the table.

“We of Ainz Ooal Gown are… foreigners to this land. What we are currently seeking is information on our surroundings. Maps, politics, some history. Although some of us are more curious,” He said the word with a hint of amusement, “as to why a small strike force of soldiers was attacking a defenseless village.”

Gazef was… he wasn’t entirely sure what he was right now. It was certainly a much better situation than he’d even hoped. “I see,” He said simply, regaining his composure, “We’d be happy to provide that to you.”

Momonga clapped his hands together lightly, his face lighting up with a small smile. It seemed… odd on his face. Like something was off, but Gazef couldn’t quite put his finger on it. “Excellent! The Village has already agreed to share it’s maps with us, but if you could provide us with any for the purposes of copying, that would be most appreciated. In terms of questions though, our greatest concern is related to the strike forces…”

 

* * *

 

Momonga drummed his fingers on the table, seemingly lost in thought. In truth, he was establishing the mental connections required for a Guild Conference via the 「 **Message** 」 spell. It’s utility could not be denied. There were already existing ‘Guild Channels’ that allowed them to talk freely in groups (usually broken up into squads based on any events they were running) within the confines of Nazarick, but arranging for a Guild Conference was a privilege reserved for Guildmaster’s and specially designated ranks within the Guild itself. Once the final answer was received, the Conference was established.

“ _I have news,_ ” He began, glancing out of a window, “ _related to the events we have witnessed as well as our bearing on the New World._ ” Nobody interrupted or spoke, waiting for him to explain so he simply continued. “ _Firstly, the situation at hand. The Village we saved is part of the ‘Re-Estize Kingdom’, and the knights that were attacking it belong to the ‘Slane Theocracy’. Gazef Stronoff, Warrior Captain of the Re-Estize Kingdom and apparently it’s greatest fighter, believes the attacks were meant to draw him out into a more vulnerable position, as the Theocracy and the Kindom are enemies. The Theocracy, I am told, worships the ‘Six Great Gods’. More troubling, they appear to espouse a doctrine of ‘Human Supremacy’ and are known to aggressively attack demi-humans._ ” There was a sense of unease amongst the Conference.

“ _Demi-humans… If they don’t like demi-humans, I can only imagine what they’d think of Nazarick,_ ” Enshento grumbled.

“ _Seriously? A Theocracy that hates anything that isn’t human?_ ” Peroroncino said, incredulously, and Momonga could easily imagine his expression, “ _Isn’t that too coincidental? It’s like someone set out to create Nazarick’s exact opposite._ ” Momonga blinked, and then chuckled slightly. He hadn’t realised it at the time, but Peroroncino was quite correct - the Human Supremacist Theocracy and the Tomb of Monsters. Could they be any more different?

“ _Suffice to say, we are unlikely to be on good terms with them. At the outset, I expect the only possible relation we could possess is ‘War’. Our intervention here only drives that further._ ”

“ _Great. War. Lovely._ ” Enshento didn’t sound particularly enthused, but Momonga could hardly blame him.

“ _It was inevitable, Babyface._ ” Bukubukuchagama’s nickname got more than a few snickers, and some indignant spluttering.

“ _B-babyface?!_ ”

“ _Hey, you called me Bubbles!_ ” Momonga sent the mental equivalent of a gavel bang down the connection, stalling any arguments, good natured or otherwise.

“ _Bukubukuchagama-san is correct. War was inevitable, although it might have been more preferable to prepare further for it. In any case, it’s not as though they are aware of our existence just yet._ ” Enshento grumbled a little, but otherwise agreed. “ _We can worry about that later. There are more pressing matters. If Stronoff-san is correct, then the strike force was just a part of a larger engagement. If the strike force does not respond, they may send another, larger force._ ”

“ _Well, that’s only if he was right, isn’t it?_ ” Bukubukuchagama said lightly, humming a little. “ _It’s pretty easy to validate his theory. We just need to ask some of the prisoners._ ” Momonga nodded, although only Mekongawa was present to see it.

“ _A good suggestion. Brandish-san, you are overseeing the prisoners, yes? Please verify._ ”

“ _Of course Momonga-dono! Leave it to this magnificent Brandish-sama!_ ” There was a small noise as he closed the connection.

“ _Well, whilst he’s doing that, I-_ ” There was another noise as Brandish re-opened the connection, interrupting Momonga.

“ _I bring dire news! Gazef-dono’s information is most accurate._ ” If he had eyes, he’d blink.

“ _Jeez, that was fast Brandish. How’d ya get ‘em to talk so quickly?_ ” Mekongawa asked, the first thing he’d said in the call.

“ _This magnificent Brandish-sama has many ways! But mostly they were already terrified of me, so they simply lose their heads whenever I look in their direction! He’s still babbling, so I’ll try and tell you what I can glean. There’s a larger force, yes, called the ‘Sunlight Scripture’. Magic Casters? A lot of them. Angels! Oh my, cousins of yours Enshento Wan-dono?_ ” There was another grumble. “ _That appears to be the bulk of it._ ”

“ _Angels… Summoned Enemies? We have yet to see what Magic is like in this New World,_ ” Momonga said carefully, drumming his fingers again.

“ _Can we assume it is similar to Yggdrasil’s?_ ” Enshento said, “ _Nobody seems to react too oddly to the way I use my Healing Magic but…_ ”

“ _They might not be very familiar with magic at all,_ ” Momonga finished, nodding to himself. “ _Even if they are similar to Yggdrasil’s, this could still be difficult. A group of High Level Angels are by no means a trifle to deal with. Mekongawa-san, you spent the most time with Stronoff-san. What do you make of his power level?_ ” The Werewolf shifted in his position up against a wall, making a so-so gesture with his hand.

“ _Eh, not bad? I mean, he’s nowhere near our level but he’s easily the strongest person we’ve met so far. Ain’t sayin’ much, but it’s somethin’ I guess. I’d say… high forties, low fifties. I’ll say he’s sharper ‘an most. He got a sense for how powerful you were in a moment, Momon. Knew he was outclassed the second he stepped through the door._ ”

“ _Then we don’t have much to fear, do we?_ ” Chagama spoke up again, sounding easily more confident now, “ _They’re going through all this trouble to kill this Stronoff guy right, cuz he’s the strongest in the Re-Estize Kingdom?_ ”

“ _That appears to be the gist of it, yes._ ”

“ _Well, doesn’t that mean that anything they’re going to bring to the table is only going to be enough to kill a level fifty character? If taking out Gazef Stronoff is so important and difficult that they’d go these lengths to do it, then it means they can’t be THAT much more powerful than he is. I mean, if they had the ability to summon the highest tier of angels, then they wouldn’t need to bait him out or anything. He’d already be dead._ ” There was a silence as everyone digested her words.

“ _Such an astute observation! This kind of thinking goes straight over my head but explained like this, even I can understand!_ ” Momonga chuckled lightly, leaning back in his chair. Chagama’s reasoning was quite sound (as usual). It wouldn’t make sense for the enemies to bring something like a Cherubim to bear against Stronoff, let alone a flock of them - if they could do that kind of thing, then they wouldn't need to go to the trouble of luring him out. Even a single Cherubim was nothing to the combined might of Ainz Ooal Gown’s seven remaining members.

“ _Don’t get cocky,_ ” Enshento declared sternly, ever the cautious one, “ _We still don’t know for sure what their Magic is like. It’s possible Magic is completely different and we could be helpless against it. So nobody get careless._ ” There was a brief chorus of agreement.

“ _Then the next issue I’d like to discuss is what we will do about this. I understand that it is not necessarily our issue to involve ourselves with, but I feel that ship has sailed. With our intervention here, we may as well strike further. There is also the potential diplomatic goodwill we can earn with the Re-Estize Kingdom as one of our closest neighbours. Stronoff-san intends to go straight into their ambush if one is present, as he feels that if he does not, they will continue to attack the villages until he does. Intervening here as well would go a long way into establishing us as friends, if not at least allies._ ”

“ _Pros and Cons,_ ” Enshento said, adopting the voice he usually did when he debated things, “ _An ally would be useful, but if we are enemies with the Slane Theocracy either way, than we can leverage that for an alliance anyway. Enemy of my Enemy as such. If we strike now, we risk revealing ourselves to the Theocracy. Admittedly, we may already have revealed ourselves but as far as they know right now, the strike force was defeated by Stronoff-san. They have no reason to suspect otherwise and nobody escaped. Confirmation on that Peroro-kun_?”

“ _Yup, nobody got out. Momonga and Brandish took care of all of them. One or two tried to flee in other ways, but I took care of them._ ” Bukubukuchagama let out a huff.

“ _All of that’s well and good, but this ‘Sunlight Scripture’ killed a lot of innocent people just to get to one guy. How many villages did they burn down before we arrived on the scene?_ ”

 _“I don’t feel as worried about us becoming more well known now. Everything seems to point towards a dearth of things capable of threatening max level players. I still believe we should be cautious, but I’m not against taking a proactive stance against this ‘Slane Theocracy._ ” Momonga nodded, both mentally and physically.

“ _Let us put it to a vote then, as always. All in favour of striking first?_ ” There was a chorus of aye’s. Even Enshento had agreed. Momonga chuckled lightly, making another mental gavel bang. “ _Then we are in agreement. Bukubukuchagama-chan, Enshento Wan-san, I trust you will be able to come up with a plan regarding this?_ ” They both responded positively. “Excellent. That wraps up everything I wished to discuss. Is there anything else anyone wanted to add?”

“ _We had something to add,_ ” Enshento said, pausing briefly. “ _By ‘we’, I mean Chagama-chan and I. And Peroro-kun, as well, I guess._ ” Bukubukuchagama continued where Enshento left off, ignoring her brother’s mild protest at being an afterthought.

“ _We all adopted human guises - or well, those of who could did, cuz we weren’t sure how people would react to us but… well, it’s kinda against the spirit of Ainz Ooal Gown isn’t it?”_ There was another pause as everyone digested that before she continued once again, _“It’d be nice if Amano-kun and Pero could come down and walk freely as well. And if the village fears us well… what do we honestly care?_ ” Momonga scratched his chin, glancing at Mekongawa who shrugged. Truthfully, Momonga didn’t really care himself either - he wasn’t sure if he should, but he definitely didn’t. Adopting a human guise was more for convenience.

“ _I suppose that’s more of a personal thing then. Perhaps Peroroncino-san can introduce himself to everyone and we can go from there?_ ” He suggested, and there was a sense of mental agreement. “ _It might be best for Brandish and I to go last… perhaps even never. I don’t personally mind._ ”

“ _In truth, neither do I! I believe it is nothing worth losing my head over, but if one of us feels they would like to be true to themselves, then who am I to deny them that? Ainz Ooal Gown was founded on those headstrong beliefs!_ ” Feeling a face palm through the mental link was strange, but somewhat amusing. Brandish’s unbridled joy in response only made it funnier.

“ _Then it’s agreed. You can reveal yourself if you want to. Anything else anyone wanted to add?_ ”

“ _Yes,_ ” said Amanomahitotsu for the first time during the entire Guild Conference. Everyone had nearly forgotten he was present for the call as well, given he had nothing to add until now.

“ _Is something the matter at Nazarick, Amano-san?_ ” If it was a real emergency, Amano would’ve contacted them earlier, or at the very least not waited until the end.

“ _Momon-san,_ ” He said quietly, with a hint of something that made Momonga feel like he should be sweating - although he had no skin. “ _Please explain to me why there a little over thirty assorted undead arriving without warning to Nazarick._ ” He could see Mekongawa’s incredulous expression and he didn’t have to think too hard to imagine the others’ faces.

“ _Ah… I wanted to test my Necromancy…_ ”

“ _I see. Next time, please deliver advance warning so that the Floor Guardians do not believe we are under attack. There are only twenty three remaining. Shalltear-chan killed the others before they could tell her they were sent by you._ ” Mekongawa was doing his best not to laugh now, although his face told Momonga he was going to be teased for days about this. Worst of all was Amano’s admonishing tone. It felt like he was being told off by a parent.

“ _O-Of course, Amano-san. I apologise deeply for the inconvenience._ ” He lowered his skull into his hands, as Mekongawa couldn’t keep the laughter in any longer. _“Is there anything else?_ ” Nobody responded, aside from some laughter from Mekongawa. " _Then that concludes this conference._ " Now he just had to find a hole to hide in before the others could tease him too much about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of envision the Message spell working a lot like a VoIP server like Ventrilo, Mumble or Teamspeak with separate channels and things. Stuff like a 'Party' channel, individual private channels, Guild Channels, that kind of thing.
> 
> Momonga can hear Amano going 'I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed'.


	6. Wrath of the Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Preparations are set. There is no battle - it is not battle when a God crushes insects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate title: Amano's FUCKING PISSED.
> 
> This took a little longer than I'd like, but that's life for you. I spent most of the month working on my assignments, which aren't so much as difficult as they are just... time consuming. So much writing to do. Not even interesting writing!
> 
> Anyway, I'm... still not super happy with this chapter. Amano's Reckoning was a scene I envisioned early on when I originally had this idea (which was a lot longer ago), and I wanted to keep it but I also wasn't sure if I should. I ended up keeping it, but I'm not sure I built up to it enough?

The Village’s tea wasn’t that bad, Amano mused. It wasn’t what he preferred by any means, and he had certainly had better. But he couldn’t blame them for the tea - they were earnest and well meaning. They did their best with what they had. He couldn’t rightly compare their tea to the tea made by the Maids. All in all, the Village Elder and his wife were taking Amanomahitotsu very gracefully. A lot of stammering, and gawking, but he had expected that much. They were going to introduce themselves as the… beings they were gradually. Baby steps. First, the Elder and his wife, and the new Village Chief - the girl Mekongawa and Chagama had saved, Enri Emmot, what a strange coincidence - were introduced to the more palatable (and harder to diguise) of them. They were good people. He had not known them for very long, but he liked them. They were earnest and forthright. Hard working.

The Sunlight Scripture would’ve happily killed them, and it soured the tea in his mouth, leaving him to stew in his own, uncharacteristically aggressive thoughts. The feeling coursing in his mind… it was hatred, wasn’t it? When was the last time he had truly hated someone?

“I really don’t see why he refused our help,” Bukubukuchagama muttered, glaring balefully at her own cup as though it had personally wronged her. “People are going to get hurt and we could stop that.”

“By hurting other people?” Peroroncino quipped, letting out an indignant squawk when Mekongawa kicked him in the shins on Chagama’s behalf. The werewolf gave her a thumbs up, and there was a smattering of chuckles. Amano couldn’t bring himself to join in the fun. “In all seriousness, sis, we can’t make them do something they don’t want to do.” He paused. “Well… we could, but we don’t want to. It’d be immoral.” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Yeah, but he said it himself, didn’t he? It’s a trap. And he’s walking right into it when we should be doing it.” Enshento let out a snort, and she glared at him half-heartedly. “What’s so funny?” He gave her a gentle wave with his hand, an amused look on his face regardless.

“It’s nothing much; it’s just… that was such a ‘Tank’ thing to say. ‘Don’t walk into danger! Let me do it instead!’” He put on a funny voice, and nearly fell over laughing at his own joke. Mekongawa helpfully kicked him as well, but it did little to dissuade his laughter (if anything, he started laughing harder), leaving him to shrug at Chagama, silently saying ‘I tried’.

“Well, Chagama-chan, look at it from his perspective. The Greatest Warrior of the Re-Estize Kingdom cannot simply ask some strangers to fix his problems for him.” Momonga offered some words of wisdom, but Amano still had to agree with Chagama. Wasn’t it a bit much, refusing help for pride in a manner that could easily lead to his death? Hadn't enough people died?

“Men and their pride,” She muttered sullenly, leaning back in her chair. Enshento reached up to climb back into his chair, his laughing fit finally concluded. His face settled back into it’s usual, placid smile without any hint that he had been rolling on the floor busting his gut mere moments ago.

“Well, there’s no real reason for us to be upset about it,” He said, reaching for his own cup of tea. “Peroro-kun is right. He’ll do what he wants to do, and we can’t force him to change his mind without some serious ethical concerns.”

“So what? We just let him charge in and die?”

“Of course not,” Enshento said breezily. “Momonga gave him a magic talisman. We can sit back, watch, and wait, and when the moment’s right, I cast the spell, we switch places. Well, most of us. I’m staying behind for the wounded.” He yawned slightly, still as calm and relaxed as Amano ever saw him. He only ever seemed to get worried when they might be in actual danger - a commendable response. “No rest for the wicked or the healer. Or the wicked healer.” Bukubukuchagama opened her mouth, and then closed it. After a few more moments, she opened it again.

“And you couldn’t tell me this earlier?” He gave her an owlish blink.

“You didn’t ask.” This time, Mekongawa’s assistance wasn’t needed, as she extended her leg right under the table to kick him so that nobody could see. The cherubic Angel swore under his breath, giving the werewolf a half-hearted glare. Mekongawa for his part just held his hands up in a placating gesture. The sincerity of his gesture was not enough to stop Enshento from lunging at him, and the rest of the gathered monsters didn’t so much as blink as they began to fight on the ground. Amano raised his cup to his lips, taking a small sip of tea with a faintly amused look on his face. It was nice, being around them again like this - it wasn’t enough to take his mind away from it’s dark place, but it was helping.

“Hey, Amano-kun,” Bukubukuchagama said, after getting her fill of watching Mekongawa and Enshento tussle like school children, “Is it really okay to leave Nazarick alone?” He set his cup back down.

“It’s fine,” He said quietly. He had no intention of missing this. “Sebas-kun will oversee.” Momonga nodded approvingly, and that seemed to assuade any worries or fears Bukubukuchagama had.

“Where’s Brandish in all this?” Peroroncino said, turning his head a full one eighty around before reversing it. Momonga mimicked the gesture, although not to the same extreme, before shrugging lightly.

“In all likelihood, he will remain behind as a rear guard in the event that anyone tries anything. If you meant as of right now, last I was aware, he was patrolling the area around the outside of the village. ”

 

* * *

 

If one were to walk by the edges of Cairne Village, where the huts and houses were a small walk away, they would hear the sound of iron shearing through dirt, the sharp noise followed by the soft ‘thud’ of soil landing on itself. A figure clad in armor, black and spiked from head to toe, was digging graves with an almost mechanical efficiency. Of course, there was nobody hear to witness his work - the villagers were still mourning in their own ways and preparing to rebuild, the knights that had arrived were busy doing whatever it was they were here to do, and his friends were planning and plotting. Or something to that effect. What did it say about Brandish, that he didn’t know how to feel?

He paused in his digging, checking the dimensions of the hole he was currently in to make sure it was all correct. Years of work as a civil engineer, surveying and constructing, planning and designing - he liked to think he was a pretty good judge of dimensions. At least, relatively small scale ones like this. Anything larger, and he’d need his instruments. He scratched the chin of his helmet, unbothered that it wasn’t his physical flesh, and wondered. “Hmm… should I allow for a coffin?” He mused, glancing back and forth. Coffins were hard work. It required at least a passing knowledge of carpentry - knowledge he possessed, but he was hardly the most efficient carpenter. Even a single, basic coffin might take him a few hours. It was already taking longer than he’d estimated to dig the graves by hand. He had the passing urge to just ask Amano to create a graveyard using Creation Magic, but he squashed it. Although flashy and memorable, it would defeat the entire purpose that he had in mind.

He wanted to feel human.

He had killed people today. They were terrible people, who had cheerfully intended to butcher a village of innocent people, but they were still people. He wasn’t a soldier. He wasn’t a killer. He was… “No coffin, I think,” He muttered, leaping out of the hole and landing on the soft green grass next to it with ease. Who was he? Such a simple question. It should be easy to answer. But he couldn’t. Not so simply. “… Headstone? Maybe a wooden cross,” He continued, mind toiling down one track as his mouth went down another.

He was ‘Brandish’ but he wasn’t. Brandish was a character. A persona. A role he played (and he played it well!) in Yggdrasil. A cartoony, evil man who laughed and mocked and jeered. Like something out of a pantomime or a children’s cartoon. It had been an escape from his boring life, pretending to be someone who was far from boring. It brought smiles and laughter, so it was good, wasn’t it? Except he’d been playing Brandish since they arrived here in the New World. A defense mechanism - rather than face the situation at hand, he retreated into a fantasy, easily acting as though this was a dream.

Twenty three innocent people were dead. He didn’t get to pretend he was dreaming anymore.

The dreamlike fantasy glasses he’d been viewing the world with were cracked and broken now. Where did that leave him, he wondered? Could he still be Brandish, the Night’s Vanguard, and go gallivanting about, challenging Heroes to duels when there was more on the line than just egos? He sighed, stretching his arms out as he began mentally estimating the dimensions of the second grave. “Maybe I should get flowers… perhaps Mare-kun can grow some for me?”

Musing like this wasn’t like him. Brandish wasn’t one for musing, and the man behind the Dullahan wasn’t either. Brandish always did what he thought was best and… so had he. What was he doing, pondering these kinds of things like he’d forgotten who he was? “Agh!” He slapped himself on the cheek of the helmet, letting his head begin to spin round and round almost comically. “What am I doing, letting my thoughts spin like this? I need to get my head screwed on straight!” He slapped both hands onto his face, halting the spin when he was facing the right way again. So what if he was Undead? So what if this was all real? He’d killed fourteen people but he’d helped save so much more. “Dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb!” He reached for the shovel and began to dig. Even when he was Brandish, he’d never been a bad person. Evil? Cartoonishly so. Bad? Hardly. He’d saved those villagers because it was the right thing to do. He’d killed those knights because it was the right thing to do. All this thinking, musing about what or who he was… it was ridiculous. He knew who he was.

“I am the Great!” Dig, “Magnificent!” Dig, “BRRRRRANDISH-SAAAAAMAAAAA!” He couldn’t help himself - he struck a pose, shovel held above his head like he was reaching for the sky, legs spread wide and his free hand at his hip. Brandish was always him on the inside - an escapist fantasy sure, but everything that Brandish was, was a part of him already, just given voice. Well, maybe not so much the Saturday Morning Cartoon Villainy. But even in his deepest roleplays, Brandish had never acted cruelly or hurt people for the sake of hurting them.

Twenty three innocent people had died today. Next time, nobody else was going to die. Not if he, Brandish, the Night’s Vanguard, could help it. But first, he had graves to dig.

 

* * *

 

“「 **Greater Teleportation: Magician’s Switch** 」.” The sparkles of light and circles of magic that appeared as he cast the spell flashed brightly. Where the five chosen members of Ainz Ooal Gown had stood in preparation, there was now an assortment of heavily wounded soldiers and a single, surprised looking Gazef Stronoff. He didn’t bother taking a deep breath, as he didn’t need to breathe, and set to work, activating the basic skill 「 **Life Essence** 」 to begin triage procedures, frowning internally.

“What… what happened?” He ignored Gazef, moving through the wounded and the dying, the High Octane version of Florence Nightingale. Most of them were at death’s door and knocking like they were trying to escape a rain storm. One or two weren’t so heavily wounded, but a handful had already passed on. He sketched a mental chart - pros, cons. “… Where am I?” He didn’t have time to answer him, switching 「Life Essence」 for 「Heavenly Gaze」, less concerned with the health of his patients and more concerned with the times of death. He would’ve let out a sigh of relief, but he was too busy focusing to remember that normal people breathed. “Who are you? What are you doing?” Questions. So many annoying questions. He was busy. He put his hand on the forehead of a dead soldier.

“「 **Borrowed Time** 」,” He intoned, and the soldier gasped for air. For all his caution and wariness, he had no more interest in seeing innocent people dead than Bukubukuchagama. All that had stayed his hand was risk. In every situation, Enshento was always thinking ‘What can I gain? What can I lose?’. For a handful of soldiers, none of them dead for longer than five minutes, Enshento had very much to gain and very little to lose. Gazef’s questions seemed to stall now, as he put his hand on a second soldier. “「 **Borrowed Time** 」,” He spoke again, and breathing returned, if ragged. Resurrection was not a cheap magic to know - the simplest of all resurrection spells, 「 **Raise Dead** 」 could cost over a thousand in reagents to cast, the price paid for reducing the penalty of resurrection. The mightiest spells replaced the XP penalty entirely with one of gold - and MP. They were spells Enshento did not know - he had no reason to learn them. 「 **Borrowed Time** 」 was somewhat different.

It was, in essence, a resurrection spell meant to be cast in combat situations. Provided the target had not died more than five minutes ago, 「 **Borrowed Time** 」 allowed them to return to a semblance of life. A false, temporary life - it restored only minimal health and MP to the target, and that health and MP would disappear in another minute. More then that, it was heavily draining on the caster’s MP. Enshento, who had one of the largest reserves in Ainz Ooal Gown, could cast this spell a grand total of three times in quick succession without resorting to consumables. Silently, he made a mental note to make sure he was carrying MP potions next time. As it was, he’d have to resort to a racial skill. “「 **Borrowed Time** 」.” His third cast of 「 **Borrowed Time** 」 drained his MP to dregs, and he felt exhausted. Useful to know that using up all your MP felt like being tired. If only he had Momonga’s reserves… well, no point in complaining about it. “「 **Essence of the Empyrean** 」.”

The racial skill activated, and he felt it flood through him. Angels were, by nature, formless beings of pure Magic. 「 **Essence of the Empyrean** 」 allowed an Angel to tap into this nature, and cast spells using their HP instead of MP. “「 **Borrowed Time** 」.” And it hurt. It felt like something was burning him up from the inside. Like he’d injected sulfuric acid straight into his veins for a lark. He had more MP than HP, like most Magic Casters, but being a high level Angel, the exchange rate of HP to MP was more favourable. Given the potential for self healing, the only limit was that each spell cost progressively more MP as long as it was active. It was meant to be a last resort after all, and not a tool for crafty players to cast infinite spells. Enshento, being that exact sort of player it had meant to stop, knew this first hand. However, it was more than enough for his purposes. “「 **Borrowed Time** 」.”

Gazef was thankfully quiet - perhaps he’d fallen unconscious from blood loss? No, just awed by his majesty. That was fine, too, as long as he wasn’t interrupting. He gave everyone a once over, before switching back to 「 **Life Essence** 」. Good. He had a decent chunk of time now before everyone expired. He flicked through his mental list of spells for something that would do the trick without being overkill. Conserving his MP (and in some ways, his HP) was important now. Any damage to himself he could heal later, but casting 「 **Borrowed Time** 」 twice left him feeling like he’d lost a very courageous game of chicken with an eighteen wheeler carrying a load of nitroglycerin and acid. He had enough in him to cast a mass healing spell, but he didn’t want to overdo it - he didn’t know what he looked like right now, but it was likely he was showing signs of the pain and drain. Well… he had enough MP to at least stop everyone from dying. Anything further would have to wait until after a potion or some rest. He released 「 **Essence of the Empyrean** 」, feeling the skill fade.

“「 **Mass Rejuvenation** 」.” The Magic Circle rushed out from him, encompassing the entire room and bathing everyone in healing light. Wounds closed, bones knitted themselves back together, and even fatigue was restored - although most people were still left quite tired and sore, with a few lingering wounds. Frankly, Enshento didn’t give a damn right now. He was feeling like he’d just pulled a twenty four hour shift, and he allowed himself to fall backward onto a pile of grain sacks. “Aaah, I’m beat,” He mumbled. Crisis averted. Everyone was alive. “Houston, we have no problems.”

“… Who is Houston?” Oh. Right. Gazef was still conscious and he hadn’t bothered explaining a single thing he was doing. Hm. Risk assessment - how much of it was his problem, and how much of it could wait until after he had a nap?

 

* * *

 

Nigun Grid Luin, leader of the Sunlight Scripture, wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the situation. There was the briefest flash of light, and then where Gazef had stood were five strangers. The one in front, clearly some of sort of leader, was wearing some very high quality robes - a Magic Caster of some sort? He looked human, which was more than could be said of his companions. To his left, was an armored figure armed with… two shields? What sort of fighting style required two shields? To his right, there was another figure, much less armored. A Beastman, Nigun noted, with no small amount of distaste, wearing what seemed like leathers. How typically barbaric. The two things behind them only made him equal parts warier and more disgusted. Beastmen were one thing, but he had no idea what sort of things they were supposed to be. A strange, bird-like humanoid and… a ten foot tall lizard? Much larger than any lizard man Nigun had ever faced. Perhaps some sort of twisted mutant? It didn’t matter. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he knew, on principle if nothing else, they were more enemies to be exterminated.

“Who are you all supposed to be?” Nigun called out, tone dismissive. He didn’t really care, truthfully. Anyone who got in the way was to be killed - doubly so for interfering monsters. More difficult than expected, but he was still entrusted with that secret weapon, an existence that mortals could not overcome. If it came to it, then he would use it, but it meant no chance of failure so he had no reason to worry.

“We are Ainz Ooal Gown,” The Leader said in a booming voice that reminded Nigun of thunder, “And you will answer for what you have done.”

“Answer for what we have done?” Nigun sneered, gesturing at the arrayed Magic Casters under his command. “And what, pray tell, do we have to answer for?” He held his hand in the ‘Stay’ signal, ready to give the ‘Attack’ one at a moment’s notice. He could see smoke beginning to drift out of the nostrils of the scaled freak. Was it mad?

“You would dare feign ignorance? Unwise. We overheard your conversation with Stronoff. Attacking Cairne Village was one thing, but to threaten to do so again whilst we, Ainz Ooal Gown, have declared it under our protection?” The Leader called out, holding a hand out before clenching it into a fist. “You will know retribution for this.” Nigun laughed dismissively, preparing to give the signal for a pair of Archangels to attack.

“Oh? And what business is it yours who we kill?”

“Business…?” The Lizard echoed, his voice quiet but hard, cutting through the air with the force of a meteor. He stepped past their leader, to quiet murmuring from the others. Like this, it was much clearer and easier to see that he was holding perhaps the largest hammer Nigun had ever seen in his hands - it looked very much as though someone had attached the biggest block of stone they could find to a handle and called it a day. On closer inspection it was neatly engraved and detailed but he couldn’t quite make it out at this distance. “Twenty three innocent people have died. Do you even care about what you have done? Does the misery and pain you have wrought even concern you in the slightest?!” He boomed out, and there tongues of fire licking at his lips now. Nigun almost missed the glances the others of ‘Ainz Ooal Gown’ shared - surprised and wary. He sneered, and gave the signal, watching the pair of Angels rush at them with a careful gaze. It wasn’t out of the realm of imagination that they might defeat the Angels - Archangel Flames were powerful yes, and certainly more powerful than a normal human soldier, but they were not invincible. Sending two was a careful, cautious move to assess the strength of their new opponents.

The Lizard’s hands shot out with a speed that belied his bulk, catching both of them by their metal-collared necks. “ _Do not,_ ” He growled out in a low voice that echoed across the valley effortlessly, squeezing down just enough to begin cracking the metal, “ _fuck with me._ ” His grip tightened that little bit more and the Archangels seized up, disintegrating into motes of magic. One of the others, the Bird-beast-thing said something to the Lizard, but there was no reaction. Nigun narrowed his eyes, and gave a flourishing gesture, the rest of the Archangels flying towards him at his command. The Lizard made an expression close to a sneer and raised it’s foot. “Is that how you answer then? With violence? If Violence is the only language you speak, then so be it! 「 **Stone Needles** 」!” He brought his foot down in a heavy stomp, and the ground creaked.

Spikes of grey stone shot forth from the ground with enough velocity and force to surprise even hardened warriors, each long slender needle finding it’s mark in the belly of an Archangel. The transmutation took less than a second, and all that was left of the Archangels was a scattering of magic, glittering around an array of thin, stone needles, all arrayed out like a cone from his initial position. “Are you done?” The Lizard called out, mocking him. He heard one of his men whimper, another call out ‘M-Monster!’. He couldn’t disagree. Even Stronoff would’ve had trouble taking out all those Archangels - he would’ve succeeded in all likelihood, but it wouldn’t have been easy. Definitely not as easy as the Lizard had made it seem.

“Holy Ray!” His men began casting spells at them, but they didn’t seem at all perturbed or bothered. They weren’t even moving to dodge or defend themselves. With a growing sense of unease, Nigun realised they didn’t have to. Each spell collided with them and struck true, but there was no effect. They might as well have been throwing grass at them for all it was doing. Someone launched a rock, and it collided with the Lizard’s face with a meaty smack. He didn’t even blink, but Nigun was almost certain there was a twitch.

“Are you _fucking_ with me right now?” The Lizard lifted his hammer off the ground in one hand, pointing it right at Nigun. “Did I not instruct you to do the exact opposite? I asked you a question. Provide a satisfactory answer, and you will be shown what little mercy I have left for you. Continue to be obstinate, and your lives alone will not satisfy me.” Nigun gritted his teeth. An entire flock of Archangels defeated in the blink of an eye, and then an entire array of second and third rank spells tanked without so much as a flinch. He glanced at the Principality of Observation, still in Defensive Mode behind him. Against a single aggressor… no. There were five of them, and if they were all of equal power, than the Principality of Observation could be defeated as well. No, he had to resort to something greater.

“You want an answer? Fine!” He reached into his pocket and held it aloft - they’re ace in the hole, the trump card up their sleeve. A Holy Treasure granted to him by the Cardinals for this very mission to ensure that success was guaranteed. It seemed that even the strange intruders before him recognised it, as they seemed on guard. “Behold, you insignificant little gecko! You may have defeated the Archangel Flames, but this is an existence that mortals cannot hope to face!” One of them was saying something, but the Lizard, that damn Lizard, didn’t seem perturbed at all. He was looking forward to wiping that smug look off it’s face. “Come forth! Dominion Authority!” The light in his crystal shone to a blinding level and then it was before them, it’s wings lightly feathered, it’s metal form majestic. He could hear the awed expressions of his men, and he turned his gaze to see how the pitiful opponents were reacting. They were… laughing? They were laughing. The Lizard continued to mock him with it’s blank, unafraid gaze.

“Are you done?” It called out, and something in Nigun snapped.

“You… you… you arrogant insect! How dare you mock the forces of Heaven like this?! You wanted an answer? Here it is! Those worthless villagers were in our way, so we destroyed them! Just as you will be destroyed here!” Nigun roared, gesticulating wildly at them.

“You… ‘Worthless’?” The Lizard echoed, and there was something in his voice that made him lose his own words. “How cheap do you think human life is?! 「 **World Shaping…** ” The reaction amongst the other members of Ainz Ooal Gown was immediate as it lifted the hammer.

“Crap.”

“H-hey he’s not actually going to swing that with us so close is he?!”

“Momonga! Shield!”

“「 **Sphere of Force** 」!” The spell took effect almost immediately, a translucent sphere of energy snapping into place all around them. Nigun wasn’t sure what was happening, but he turned to the Dominion Authority, intent on stopping it.

“Dominion Authority! Destroy them with 「 **Holy Smite** 」!” But it was too late. The Lizard had already brought the hammer down.

“ **… Embrace of Stone** 」!” And that was the last thing Nigun heard.

 

* * *

 

There was a flash of light and the results of the spell were obvious to all. Stone. All around them, everything save for Amanomahitotsu and the area encased in the 「 **Sphere of Force** 」 had turned to cold, lifeless stone. The ground, stone. The grass, stone. The flowers, stone. Trees, birds, a stray squirrel, but perhaps most dramatically was the Sunlight Scripture and their Angels. Being Summoned creatures, the Angels dissolved into light the moment they were ‘killed’, but the humans of the Sunlight Scripture had remained, their forms forever preserved as lifelike statues, a testament to the dragon’s rage. This was the power possessed by Amanomahitotsu.

In Yggdrasil, there were many ‘exclusive’ classes that required one to fulfill many conditions. In Ainz Ooal Gown, there were three people known as the ‘World Trio’. Touch Me, who had won a tournament against Yggdrasil’s top players and was rewarded with the ‘World Champion’ class and armor, gaining access to even more powerful abilities such as the top tier skill ‘World Break’. Ulbert Alain Odle, who pursued destructive and damaging magic to the extent that he learned the ‘World Disaster’ class, gaining access to spells that cause untold destruction and chaos on a grand scale. And lastly, there was Amanomahitotsu, who won a competition within Yggdrasil between designers, and was rewarded with the ‘World Shaper’ class, gaining access to abilities and powers that allowed even greater creative control over the world around him, as well as his weapon, 「 **Hammer of the World Shaper** 」. His World Shaping abilities by nature did not lend themselves well to combat situations, as they were intended to allow Amanomahitotsu to create new and interesting works of art in Yggdrasil. For this purpose, although they could effect combat in a grand way, they normally required a long wind up and cast time that made it more than easy to interrupt or prevent.

However, by nature of his class schema, Amanomahitotsu naturally had the ability to work around these limitations through a variety of enchantments and imbuements. With the 「 **Hammer of the World Shaper** 」, Amanomahitotsu had a natural vessel in which to work these abilities. It was not a weapon designed for combat, and although it could be considered 「 **Divine Class** 」 equipment and was just shy of being a 「 **World Class** 」, it had a physical power and damage relative to most 「 **Relic Class** 」 equipment. Despite this, what made it 「 **Divine Class** 」 was it’s capacity for enchantment - as a weapon awarded to designers, it stood to reason that it was designed with their classes in mind. Through a complex chain of imbuements, Amano’s own 「 **Hammer of the World Shaper** 」 became a reservoir of power that he could draw on to boost or otherwise effect his spells. With a single swing, he could increase the area or effect of his abilities, shorten their casting time, or even cast them when he was out of MP. Of course, the reservoir was limited in the amount of power that it could hold at any one time, and it’s greatest weakness was that to recover the power expended in even minor uses could take a day or two. To put it in perspective, for Amanomahitotsu to shorten the cast time of a ten minute super tier ability such as 「 **World Shaping: Embrace of Stone** 」 required the vast majority of the power stored within his weapon - an amount of power that would take weeks to recover, if not months.

All of Ainz Ooal Gown knew that Amano, who avoided combat where he could, only ever swung his hammer when he felt he had no other choice. He stood there, hammer clenched in his hand, panting heavily as a mournful whistle seemed to emanate through the valley, the sound of wind passing through the stone grass. He stood there, breathing ragged and shoulders heaving, his Hammer still pressed up against the ground.

“What the hell Amano?!” Mekongawa blurted out, hackles raised. “Warn us next time you do that!” He yelled, pointing an angry finger at him. The Dragonblooded didn’t respond. Mekongawa opened his mouth to continue, but closed it shortly after, his anger fading away in place of concern. “… Amano?” He ventured. Still no response. He glanced at the others, who all had similar expressions of uncertainty. Well, all of them except Momonga, whose bony skull revealed nothing. Carefully, he stepped around the gargantuan dragonoid, heavy enough that the stone grass crunched under his feet into gravel. Amano hadn’t moved at all, still breathing raggedly, shoulders heaving with every breath. Mekongawa was almost afraid he’d had a stroke or something, but he seemed… physically fine. Mentally? Possibly. Emotionally? Oh hells no. If Mekongawa had to describe the expression on his scaly face it would be… difficult for starters. But he liked to think he was insightful about these kinds of things, and given what he could remember of Amanomahitotsu…

He’d bet good money that Amano was angrier than he had ever been, and had no idea what to do about that feeling.

He glanced back at everyone else, who seemed to be watching him with an air of dramatic suspense, and he sighed internally. Right. Guess it was his job now. “Amano…” What was he even supposed to say? ‘I see you just turned over twenty people to stone in a fit of rage, hows that make you feel?’. “You okay?”

“… No.” Nailed it.

“… You want to talk about it?” He offered, flashing the other three a look that screamed ‘Help me out!’. Momonga stepped forward, and Mekongawa could almost kiss his bony… mouth. He didn’t have lips.

“Perhaps it is better that we return to Nazarick and… get some tea? Would that be preferable?” He sounded a lot calmer than Mekongawa felt. Amano’s shoulders sagged, and Mekongawa could almost imagine it as someone letting out all the air inside of him. When he spoke next, it was with a tiny, quiet voice that he had trouble associating with Amanomahitotsu.

“… Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter concludes our final stop at the stations of canon. From this point on, we're going off the rails.
> 
> It only took six chapters, but I got there. I'll be honest, I thought I would be at this point three chapters or so ago, but nope.
> 
> But by this stage, I've (hopefully) established the characters, their natures and personalities, so now we can begin with the fun part.


	7. Let's Go On An Adventure (This Is More Romero Than Tolkien)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Seven Supreme Beings adapt and adjust to life in the New World. Mekongawa, Chagama and Enshento stumble into a zombie apocalypse. Amanomahitotsu grapples with new instincts. Brandish asks for directions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow this has been a long time coming huh
> 
> a lot's happened over the year which i won't really go into (i have a blog for that)
> 
> but a month or so ago i got the urge to revisit this
> 
> i won't say it was worth the wait but i hope you enjoy it all the same

The air was so thick with tension, it seemed a miracle that anyone could breathe it at all. This was a battle to end all battles. A fight beyond any other. Onlookers could stand by helplessly and watch as the two titans prepared to clash.

On one end, an Empyrean Angel, a being of pure magic. His glittering wings of light leered with a hundred grinning mouths, the unspoken promise of a thousand spells ready to be made reality.

On the other was a being of raw physical power, of dense, tightly corded muscles, iron-like fur and claws sharp enough to rend steel. A Lunar Lord. The terrifying conclusion of a man who gave up his humanity to become King of the Beasts.

Enshento Wan grinned all at once in that horrible way he only did when he wasn’t even pretending to be human, rolling his shoulders mostly for show. “You’d better surrender now, or I’ll have to break out the newspaper roll to remind you whose top dog.”

‘Beast King’ Mekongawa let out a barking laugh, more hyena than wolf - but all it really served to do was show off the gleaming array of fangs he had the pleasure of calling his own. “Puns? Really? I woulda thought they’d be beneath you, old man,” He retorted.

Enshento had a curious habit when he was annoyed. Similar to the way an animal might raise it’s hackles, his ‘wings’ would often reshape or shatter into something more evocative of knives or blades than their usual state. “Stop calling me old!” He snapped, as the formation of light and magic behind him shifted until it seemed like a thousand angry needles were radiating from his back. “For the last time, I’m pretty sure you’re older than me!”

“Ha! Enough talk!” Mekongawa barked, stretching up to his full height. “It’s time we put an end to this once and for all!”

“Hmph! That’s the smartest thing that’s ever come out of your mouth, mutt. I hope you’re ready for the end!”

“Don’t get cocky, old man! SHOW ME WHAT YA GOT!”

“ _HAAAAAAAAAAH!_ ”

As one, they struck.

“Read ‘em and weep! Three of a Kind!” Mekongawa bragged, cards splayed out on the table in front of him, an undeniable smug air beginning to surround him.

The smug expression was beginning to melt however, when Enshento Wan’s own satisfied smirk refused to budge. “Weep, you say? I’m afraid you’ll be doing the crying.” He began to lay his cards down, one by one. “Queen. Jack. Ten. Nine,” He listed, holding up the last card in his hand. “Can you guess what this one is?”

Mekongawa’s ears drooped and he shrank in on himself almost pitifully. “No. No! There’s no way! Ya can’t have!”

“That’s right!” Enshento roared, smirk growing into a manic grin. “I did! It’s an Eight!” He flipped the card around in his fingers, posing theatrically on top of the table as Mekongawa collapsed backwards, sobbing into the ground. “Now I am the undisputed King of Cards! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“… I think you two need to get out more,” came the vaguely amused voice of Bukubukuchagama, who was helpfully collecting the discarded cards back into the deck. “Seriously, when is the last time either of you did something outside?”

Feeling a little like his bubble had been burst, Enshento slipped back into his chair with a soft grumble. “When’s the last time YOU did something outside?” He said sullenly, as he reached forward to claim his winnings - a cake baked by one of the Homunculus Maids, Nesta. It wasn’t a particularly grand prize, which wasn’t to say the cake was bad. It was just really easy to get another one. Any one of them could ask Nesta (or any maid really) for a cake right now and get it.

“Yesterday,” Chagama said helpfully, tendrils carefully evening the deck out. “I went for a walk around the village.” The deck restored to it’s complete state, she pushed it towards the fallen form of Mekongawa, who had graduated from sobbing melodramatically to just kind of laying there.

Enshento huffed a little, jabbing a fork into the chiffon cake. “I’ve been busy doing things,” He said, entirely too defensive. “There’s a lot of things to sort out in Nazarick. Like the Library. I was sorting out the Library.”

Chagama didn’t seem even remotely convinced by his words. “The Library? The Library entirely managed and run by people we _created_ to manage and run the Library? That Library?”

Enshento pointedly did not say anything in response, only chewing on a mouthful of cake.

A clawed hand reached up and gripped onto the table, and soon after the disgruntled form of Mekongawa hauled itself into view. “What would we even do outside?” He said, reaching over to try and nab a piece of cake for himself despite losing. This in turn caused Enshento to stab at his hand with the fork, and in the span of less than a minute they began idly fencing with cutlery.

“Presumably not pretend you’re in some sort of poker anime,” Chagama said dryly.

Enshento made a face. “Sounds awful.” A brief lapse in his defense saw Mekongawa successfully make off with a large chunk of his cake. For a moment, it looked like he was going to try and get it back, but then he sighed and pushed the entire thing over to him. “You’d think being in a situation like this, where you’re free to do anything you want, you’d just go off and do things wouldn’t you? But there’s so many things to do and you can’t decide and you just… don’t.”

They all fell silent for a brief turn, before Bukubukuchagama gently prodded Enshento with a tendril. “… Enshento, when is the last time you had a vacation?”

And they were silent once more.

“… That long huh?” Mekongawa muttered, giving Enshento a sympathetic look.

The Angel responded by puffing out his cheeks and glaring. “Oh, like you can talk Mister Author! Your entire life was one vacation!”

“Hey! The work of a writer never ends! I was always rushing to meet deadlines so my editor wouldn’t kill me!” He squawked, holding his hands up defensively. “She was always threatening the craziest things! Once she told me she was going to pull out my entrails and hang up them around the office as a decoration!”

Chagama tilted the amorphous blob-shape that passed for her head to a wobbly side. “Well. Think of it like a vacation, or try to. At least. Go visit a city, walk around, see the sights. There’s an entire world to explore out there!”

Neither of them seemed particularly moved or convinced by her words. “What would we even do? If I want to look at pretty nature, I can go to the Sixth Floor. If I want to relax or have a spa day or anything like that, I can just do that here. What is out there that I could possibly want that I can’t get here in Nazarick?” Enshento said, listing off everything with a hand. “Food, relaxation, fun… it’s all here.”

“She has a point,” Mekongawa mumbled, slumping forward against the table. “I’ve been cooped up for a week and I’m going insane.” He paused for a moment, mulling it over in his head. “But I guess Enshento has some points as well. The world is kind of… small, isn’t it? For us, at least,” He muttered, tapping his claws against the wood, “Their greatest fighters are… like mid-level. We’re the end game. It’s… it’s sort of just like we’re still in Yggdrasil, ain’t it? Like bein’ in an RPG ‘cept you’ve grinded far beyond the final boss, so you just have to make your own fun somehow. No real goal. No real… direction.”

“Yeah, but it’s not a game we’re in, is it? This is ‘Real Life’. I can’t just… go around doing ridiculous things for the hell of it, like I’m playing ‘Gates of Heaven’ again. I killed every single NPC in that game just to see if I could. You understand that I can’t exactly do that here?” Enshento sighed, leaning back in his chair with a tired expression. “Treating this like a ‘game’ is… dangerous. We’re not gods, we’re more like… like mythical beings,” He gestured lazily with a hand, “Beyond anything they can imagine but not omnipotent or omniscient by any means.”

Mekongawa huffed. “When you put it like that, it sounds like way too much responsibility. That kind of thing makes me think it’d be better for the world if we didn’t do anything… but I’m not so selfless I’d stay in Nazarick for the rest of my years.” He stood up suddenly, a determined look on his face. “Come on! We’re going on an adventure!” He declared, pointing a finger directly at Enshento.

“… What? Don’t just-hey! HEY! PUT ME DOWN YOU ASSHOLE, OR I SWEAR I WILL BLAST YOU TO HELL! 「 **Void Storm** 」! 「 **Astral Rending** 」! 「 **Hungry Space** 」!” Bursts of black ‘light’ and scintillating colours pinged off Mekongawa’s form. Sixth Rank spells that ultimately affected him as much as if Enshento had kicked and punched.

“… What the hell,” Chagama muttered, slumping over in their general direction, “I’ll tag along. God knows someone has to stop them from killing each other.”

 

* * *

 

As the sun rose to it’s zenith in the sky, casting warm rays of light upon the ground, the people of Carne Village moved about in their daily routine. Life was different now in ways, but the same in just as many. Regardless of what had happened in the past and what the future held in store for them, the farms needed to be tended to. Life needed to go on. The dead were buried and mourned, the huts were rebuilt, and that was that.

Life went on.

Today though, there was something different in the air. A quiet tension that they, as survivors of a horrific incident, were perhaps more aware of then they would’ve been before. Or perhaps it was simply the presence of the towering figure. Fifteen feet of scales, muscle and leather workman’s clothes, Amanomahitotsu strode through the village like he owned it. Then again, who would tell him otherwise?

As it was, the only person who dared to approach him was his Guildmaster, Momonga, dressed in resplendent silks (and a nice little mask to avoid scaring people). “Amano-san,” He said quietly in greeting. “Are you well?”

The Dragonblooded paused briefly in his stride. “No,” was all he said in response, before continuing on.

‘ _S-so blunt…_ ’ Ever the dutiful friend, Momonga fell in step beside him, half curious to see what Amano was doing, and half simply wanting to comfort him.

“Momon-san, what do you see?” He asked, breaking the silence at last after a good few minutes of walking.

Momonga glanced around them. The villagers milled about, not quite giving them a wide berth but also quite clearly at least a little wary of them. “I see a village?” He offered, not really sure where this was going.

Amano snorted, a puff of smoke emerging from his nostrils. “Just a village?” He echoed. He was definitely leading to something but Momonga had no idea what.

“What do you see then, Amano-san?”

“A prize to be claimed.”

Momonga was briefly taken back by the words, which seemed so foreign to come from Amanomahitotsu, whose only ambitions until now had seemed to be creating newer and fancier items. “… Amano-san?” He prompted quietly.

He paused, scales heaving slightly. “… I shouldn’t see it that way, should I, Momon-san?” He murmured quietly. “This is a village. It’s full of people who live lives, have dreams, aspirations. They’re not… things to own. Nobody owns them. They’re people.” Another snort, curling grey smoke puffing out of his nostrils in a sad haze. “… and yet, I have the urge to claim them.”

Not for the first time, Momonga is glad his skull can’t emote properly because he’s at a complete loss for words. What does one even say to that? “… What would that involve?”

“… A flag. A statement. Retribution for those who disagree.”

Momonga got a flash of the stone valley, of still and silent figures who would never move again. He wasn't sure if that was the kind of retribution Amanomahitotsu intended.

If Amano sensed Momonga’s feeling, he didn’t show it. Instead, he continued. “Look at this village, Momon-san. The Re-Estize Kingdom failed to protect them. Their strongest warrior was not enough.” Something in his posture changed, and his voice dropped several octaves. “If you cannot protect what you have, you do not deserve to have it! So I’ll…” He paused, glancing down at his clenched claws. “… Ah. Again. I’m doing it again.”

‘ _Scary… Amano-san is scary._ ’ “Amano-san, perhaps what you are experiencing is… the instincts of your new body?” Momonga ventured. “In the same way that Brandish-san and I feel our emotions… muted due to our cold, undead nature, Amano-san as a Dragonblooded feels the instinctive need to… claim things?” It was a guess on his part, but if he remembered the lore for Dragonoid’s, that seemed… right? Dragons in Yggdrasil were of the treasure hoarding type, and were known to be very possessive of anything they claimed.

“Momon-san is clever as always,” Amano murmured. “But what should I do? These feelings… how should I answer them?” He looked to Momonga with a lost expression so resolutely pathetic that anyone could’ve understood it, even with his oddly draconic face.

‘Why me?!’ is what Momonga wants to scream, but he understands why perfectly clearly. He’s the Guildmaster, the Leader of Ainz Ooal Gown. It was a position of mediation, diplomacy and bureaucracy but now… now he was actually meant to do leading. “… Answer them honestly,” He said at last, “The Kingdom failed to protect the village. Protect it in their stead.”

Amano didn’t say anything at first, but then nodded slowly. “I will,” He murmured, in a voice full of conviction.

Momonga had absolutely no doubt the World Shaper was going to stop at nothing to protect Carne Village now. All he could do now was hope he hadn't made a mistake.

 

* * *

 

Despite the fact that Enshento could no doubt teleport them to just about anywhere they wanted to go, the three of them had set off on foot. After all, the journey was just as important as the destination… to a degree. Or at least it was, right now.

“Where are we going, anyway?” Enshento muttered, squinting up at the sunlight peeking in between the canopy of the trees. Against his better judgement, he’d ended up wearing a rather ostentatious ensemble, made of purple and white silks, beads and gemstones. Combined with a large leather-bound tome, with a single blinking eye on the cover, it was an outfit meant to be like a poisonous creature’s bright and vibrant colourings - ‘Beware, for I am dangerous’. He wasn’t sure what Magic Casters wore in this world, but he figured if he was ostentatious enough about it, someone would get the idea. And if they didn’t? Well… that was just the way of things, wasn’t it?

Mekongawa huffed quietly, squinting at the rudimentary map he’d sort-of made. It had been based on the villages own maps, and descriptions and other information gleaned from conversations. It probably wasn’t entirely accurate, but all they really needed to know was where this road went. “Some place called E-Rantel,” He said, stuffing the map back into his inventory. Unlike Enshento, his attire was nothing approaching the word ‘ostentatious’, but the leather hides and furs gave him a feral appearance that was only augmented by the bestial, furry ears that twitched at the sides of his head. “It’s supposed to be one of the bigger cities around, so maybe there’ll be some interestin’ stuff goin’ on.” He doesn’t sound particularly convinced that there would be anything of interest, but he does seem somewhat absorbed in looking around them, arms folding up behind his head. “Doesn’t this feel better though? Ain’t knockin’ Nazarick, but… fresh air, fresh light. It’s nice, ain’t it?”

As if to answer that very statement a small red-breasted robin flutters down onto a nearby branch and starts to sing. All three of them pause to appreciate the music and its gentle, light beauty, up until a hawk dived in and snatched the robin up.

There’s a slight awkward silence until Chagama coughed into a hand. “… Well. Nature isn’t all… pretty singing, is it?” She mumbled, attempting to salvage what’s left of the mood. Compared to the other two, she is perhaps the most overtly combat-ready, clad head to toe in gleaming armour and a single heater shield held in her hands. Of course, anyone who assumed the other two weren’t capable of defending themselves would be in for a very bad surprise if they tried anything.

A much more suitable distraction made itself known at that moment, and Mekongawa seized it with both hands. “Look!” He cried, pointing ahead of them, “That must be E-Rantel!” Indeed, ahead of them was a walled off city of some kind, just visible as they crested the hill and began to leave the trees. Provided they hadn’t gotten incredibly lost, this had to be their destination.

“… Race you!” Chagama declared suddenly, shooting off at high speeds and leaving a cloud of dust behind her.

Mekongawa let out a surprised noise, but was quick on her heels and rapidly gaining given he was much more agile than she was. “Come back here!” He called, “I’m supposed to be the one who cheats, damn it!”

All of this meant Enshento was left in the dust, a disgruntled expression on his face. If he ran after them normally, he’d have no hope in catching up - his legs were too short, and he didn’t have good physical stats to begin with. “Assholes,” He murmured, leaning forward, “Don’t look down on me just because I’m small damn it!” And then he launched himself after them, zooming along just above the ground. Even with his wings hidden, Enshento could still fly. He was by no means as fast as Peroroncino, but he made up for it by being infinitely more maneuverable given that he didn’t have to obey the laws of inertia. Not that it was going to stop him from ‘cheating’ per se. “「 **Mass Slow** 」!” He called out, a wave of energy rushing out from him and engulfing both Mekongawa and Chagama. Immediately, the two of them began to move as if in slow motion and Enshento swiftly began to catch up.

Not to be outdone, Mekongawa activated a skill. “「 **Freedom of Movement** 」!” He cried, a red glow humming about him briefly before he suddenly resumed sprinting at his usual speed. “Try better next time, old man!”

“「 **Charging Shield Train** 」!” came Chagama’s voice, and suddenly, she too resumed her normal speed - and then some. With her shield held in front of her, and a very impressive cloud of dust behind her, it was pretty clear that she wasn’t going to lose this race if she could help it.

It was amazing, in some ways, how a little childish race became something they were competing so heavily around.

Seeing Chagama approaching rapidly from behind, Mekongawa reached into his jacket. “「Glue Bomb」!” He called out, tossing several white pellets behind him. On impact, each exploded in puddles of white goo that would’ve entrapped a normal person.

Chagama simply lowered the tip of her heater shield until it started to plow through the ground as she charged, without so much as missing a beat or even slowing down the tiniest bit.

“Seriously?!” Mekongawa cried, racking his brain as quickly as he could for something that would halt her advance. He could lay down some 「Frost Mines」 but if she was just going to churn up the ground like that… “Man, Chagama’s really a monster,” He mumbled, tilting his head in thought. “… Well, so am I, aren’t I?” It was true that his specialty was in traps and ambushes - things that took planning and preparation, but the nature of his fighting style meant he had to be capable of improvisation. When faced with an opponent who steadfastly refused to fall for his traps? He just had to make sure to control the momentum. “「 **Concussion Grenade** 」!” He called out, flinging something larger and pale blue at the ground just in front of the charging tank.

The bomb exploded with enough force to briefly stun her, barely managing to snap her out of the charge and she came to a sudden halt. She started charging again, but by this time the damage is already done and Mekongawa has a clear and solid lead on both of them.

Chagama is second to the gate, tapering her charge off to a steady stop. “Whew!” She reached up to wipe sweat off her brow and stopped mid-motion when she remembered she doesn’t actually sweat. She doesn’t even have pores. “That was fun, wasn’t it?”

“I’m not repairing the road,” Enshento said simply, landing on the ground with a soft fwoosh of his wings and not bothering to glance back at the destruction they had wrought in their efforts to be first. He turned back to the other two, reaching out to nudge Mekongawa. “What’s with that face?”

‘That face’ was an expression of confusion, disgust and worry all mixed into one grab-bag. “D’ya smell that?”

“Considering I’m a sentient arrangement of mana and Chagama-chan is a sentient amorphous blob of flesh-digesting enyzmes… no, Mr Bloodhound, we don’t.” Mekongawa didn’t seem bothered by the comment, which was really let Enshento know something was up. “… What are you smelling?”

“… Death.”

 

* * *

 

The Trio observed the city from the ramparts of the abandoned wall and what they saw didn’t exactly fill them with joy. No lights were on, and no sign of activity. Mekongawa peeled his upper lip back, his handsome face twisting up in a way far too reminiscent of it’s true form to even be considered human anymore. “I don’t like this,” He muttered. “I dunno what cities are like here but… there’s nothing going on. It’s what? Midday? And nobody’s around.”

“Maybe they’re all… somewhere else?” Bukubukuchagama offered, a bubbling tendril waving itself almost idly around. It was hard to say exactly what the tendril was meant to be - a hand? A finger? Just… fiddling?

Enshento shook his head. “No… Mekongawa-kun’s right. Something bad happened here. The question is… do we find out what?” His wings spread out, gently reshaping themselves into jagged shapes, like a cracked mirror. “It could be anything. Plague. Murder. Magic.”

“What about a Magical Plague of Murder? Ow!” Mekongawa rubbed his shoulder gingerly, shooting Enshento a half-hearted glare. “Whaddya reckon we do then?”

Enshento’s wings gently folded into themselves before unfurling in the form of several floating rings. “We send something else to scout ahead for us. [  **Summon: Minor Angelic Host** ] !”

Around him, six magical circles sprung into existence, glowing white and pure. The angular, mechanical shapes of Yggdrasil’s Archangel Flames began to emerge from each ring, wings flaring with light.

“Scout the area,” Enshento commanded, gesturing with a hand, “Locate anything that moves. Do not engage, keep your distance but observe.”

Orders received, the Angels shot off into different directions, tdheir glowing wings roaring like jetpacks as they flew.

“There. That should handle that issue quite…” He began to trail off quietly, brow furrowing. “They died.”

Mekongawa frowned, ears twitching. “… All six of ‘em? Just like that? They can’t ‘ave been that far. What killed ‘em?”

“I don’t know. [ **Summon: Lesser Angelic Host** ] !” He raised his hands, and six more magical circles appeared around him, somewhat larger than before. Instead of the Archangel Flames, what rose up out of the circles were the Principalities of Observation, with armored robes and four glowing wings. “Scout the area. Absolutely do not engage.”

“Can you see through their eyes?” Bukubukuchagama asked, “You used to use them to scout all the time.”

Enshento’s wings reshaped themselves into their usual form, blinking eyes forming and unforming at random amongst their mass. “I should be able to,” He admitted, “I’m not sure how it works now though. I’m trying to…” He stiffened, and suddenly, his wings were nothing but eyes. Angry ones. “One… two. Three. Three dead. Fou-Fi-Six,” He seethed. “Who keeps killing _MY_ ANGELS?!”

A clawed hand bopped him on the head lightly. “Woah, woah, woah. Calm down, old man. They were just Summons.”

“They were _MY_ Summons!” Enshento roared in an inhuman voice, eyes glowing. “I’ll-”

_Smack!_

“… okay, I’m calm.” He let out a small sigh. “Sorry. Got a little worked up there.” Another deep breath, and he was back in business mode. “Principality of Observation is a 4th tier Summon. They’re level thirty five. Given what we know of the world…”

“… then whatever took six of ‘em out in a blink’s gotta be leagues above the average guard or soldier here,” Mekongawa finished. He paused for a moment, and then his face split into a mad grin. “Aaaah, I’m gettin’ pumped up!” He nearly made to leap off the edge, but Bukubukuchagama helpfully grabbed his collar with a tendril.

She set him down on the edge but didn’t let him go. “The Angels were flying when they died, right? So whatever took them out can either fly, or attack at range.”

“Chagama-chan is correct as usual,” Enshento declared, dusting himself off. “So we do this calmly and carefully. Let’s start by descending down this wall, shall we?” And with that, he ‘gently’ pushed Mekongawa off the edge. It seemed like a pointless gesture given Chagama had just stopped him from jumping off ive seconds ago - but really, it was much funnier when he didn't see it coming.

“Wh-HEY! ASSHOLE!” Mekongawa cried out, twisting in the air to land on his feet in a manner more suited to a cat than a wolf.

With the calm grace and poise of someone who absolutely did not just push their friend off a wall, Enshento offered his hand to Bukubukuchagama. “Chagama-chan, if you would be so kind?”

She rolled her eyes, but placed her armored hand in his. “Such a gentleman,” She drawled.

“[  **Fly** ] .” And with that spell, she was very briefly encompassed by a soft blue glow before they both began to descend together, at a much more sedate pace.

Mekongawa was waiting for them at the bottom, but instead of being disgruntled and annoyed, he seemed disturbed, and frankly, a little nauseous. “Can ya really not smell that?” He muttered, pulling a bandanna out of his inventory to tie around his face, “It fuckin’ reeks. It smells like a fuckin’ slaughterhouse that hasn’t been cleaned in a month.”

“… Wow. I’m glad I don’t have a digestive system because I think I’d be vomiting everything back up right now,” Bukubukuchagama muttered.

“Bubbles, you’re practically made of… beauty and nice things. Please put that shield away.”

Chagama nodded imperiously, unequipping her heater shield but not without giving Enshento a prim look. She took a look around them, assessing their surroundings. “There was some kind of fight here. Doors broken down, windows shattered.”

Enshento strolled forward, but not without equipping a ‘basic’ scepter. It was basic by their standards - only [ **Relic** **Class** ] in level. “So. Probably not a plague unless this was a riot during it. Those can happen. Not an invasion I don’t think - gates were still locked. There’s no bodies around though.”

“Okay, so if there’s death everywhere, where are all the bodies, right?” Mekongawa continued, “I think I’ve got your answer, ojii-san. Twelve o’clock.”

Both Enshento and Bukubukuchagama narrowed their eyes at once, focusing along the street.

“… I can’t see that far,” Chagama admitted after a few moments.

Mekongawa helpfully provided her with a pair of binoculars. She didn’t even ask why he had them.

“Is that… that’s a zombie,” Enshento murmured, “Is… are we…”

“Is this a Zombie Apocalypse? Yeah. I think it might be.”

Enshento Wan let out a long suffering sigh. “Great. Well, we wanted an adventure. Here it is, I guess. Was kind of hoping for a Quest instead of… you know. This. Well, beggars can’t be choosers I suppose.”

 

* * *

 

In the Great Forest of Tob, there were untold monsters and mysteries. Greatest of these dangers were the Three Monsters - the Giant of the East, the Serpent of the West, and the Great Wise King of the South. Each were beyond the strength of normal men, rivaled only by the strongest adventurers, and each ruled their territory as the undisputed king, brutally culling any who dared intrude.

Or at least, that’s how it usually went.

“… so I decided to take a nice long walk in this lovely forest to clear my head, but -”

The Great Wise King of the Forest rushed the talking figure, claws flashing forward with inhuman speed.

The figure, protected head to toe in purple armor, simply raised a small, almost delicate looking lance and parried the attack without even interrupting their monologue. “I’ve ended up completely lost, you see! Had my head up in the clouds for so long, I’ve forgotten where I am, and now I can’t make heads nor tails of my surroundings! Now, I was pretty sure I passed a river-”

“[  **Blindness** ] !” The Monster cried, activating one of her many spell sigils. The bolt of energy rushed out towards the armored figure, who simply equipped a massive tower shield in their free hand.

The shield bore a gruesome demonic face on it’s outward face, mouth agape with tusks and fangs. When the magic collided with the face, it simply fizzled uselessly - the only change that could be witnessed was the way the face’s eyes began to glow just ever slightly so. “But I simply can’t wrap my head around all these different trees! Different? Nay, I say they’re the same! I couldn’t tell them from my head to my toes!”

The Wise King huffed, rushing forward again with her claws bared. Every blow was parried with effortless grace, the flower lance more than a match for her claws.

“-and there was this bush of berries as well, and I thought I’d keep that in my head as a landmark, but it’s completely escaped me!”

She spun around to whip the armored figure with her tail in a surprise attack. The blow struck true, and the helmeted head flew straight off… but continued talking as though nothing had happened.

“And then I ran into you, and I thought ‘What luck!’ You can talk! That means you can understand me, and so, I can understand you! I don’t suppose you could help put me into the right head space and show me where to go.”

The Wise King paused. “You… what are you, that you are?”

“Oh? My goodness, what’s wrong with my head?! Forgive this foolish Brandish-sama! I have not introduced myself! Ah, I just did… Nevermind! I am the Night’s Vanguard! The Crusader of Darkness! The great and fearsome, the awesome, the terrifying, the MIGHTY! BRANDISH! SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” With every title, Brandish struck a new and increasingly more ridiculous pose, ending it with a one-armed handstand, and his legs split in the air. "... Also, I'm very much lost. Could you help me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot how much fun it is to write Brandish
> 
> He's possibly my favourite character I've ever created.


End file.
